


Between a Dream and a Summons

by Amrynth



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Extreme slow burn, Fae & Fairies, Frottage, M/M, Magic, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Summoning Circles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-09-23 01:54:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9635705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amrynth/pseuds/Amrynth
Summary: Katsuki Yuuri is ready to drop out of Magical School and learn something boring and Mundane.  At least, until he accidentally summons Viktor, the literal boy of his dreams.





	1. A Life Mundane

**Author's Note:**

  * For [azriona](https://archiveofourown.org/users/azriona/gifts).



> I find all of these idiots entirely too much fun to write. Done for my bidder in the Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction! I had a lot of fun working on this and it's nice for support to go to a good cause for a thing I had fun doing! It will probably be explicit, once these dumb boats get their feels figured out so I'm tagging it that way so no one is mislead by this seemingly innocent first chapter.

It would hardly be fair to say that Yuuri had tried his hardest. He had, in a way, but as always his nerves had gotten the better of him and the entire project had gone completely awry. The summoning circle had, quite literally, exploded on him. Yuuri wasn’t injured and neither was the test administrator but the older gentleman wouldn’t have eyebrows until his grew back. Okay, Yuri wasn’t physically injured, but his emotional state had taken a major blow.

The instructor, feeling the place where his eyebrows had once been had then raised those parts of his face and frowned. “I think we both know what sort of grade you should be expecting, Mr. Katsuki.” 

Yuuri’s face fell but he managed to keep his composure together. Of course he was going to fail. He knew he could do better than this but he’d gotten it wrong when it counted. Again. “Yes, sir.” He crumpled his hands into fists at his side, digging his nails into the soft flesh of his palms so that he could focus on something other than the knowledge he should just leave school.

“Very well then. I would thank you for your demonstration but… well, I could have done without it,” the instructor said again, stroking his naked brow as though the sensation of his finger against sensitive, red skin would encourage hair growth. 

Once the instructor left the classroom, leaving Yuuri alone, the chubby student let his burning eyes get the better of him. Yuuri put his back against the corner of the wall where the position of the door gave him some modicum of privacy. With his knees pulled as close against his chest as he could manage, Yuuri allowed himself to cry into his clenched hands. He’d really fucked up. What was even the point in trying to keep going in the school? He was never going to be the summoner he wanted to be when he crumpled under the slightest pressure. The apprentice summoner sniffled and tried to smother the flow of tears and snot that didn’t seem to have an end. 

A flare of light caught Yuuri’s attention and he looked up. The circle that had failed to summon so much as an imp minutes before flared and temporarily blinded him. Something much larger than an imp stood in the circle; Yuuri could feel the pressure of its power on his chest so heavily that he could barely breathe. 

“You should quit now, moron.” The voice was low and angry. Yuuri’s eyesight finally cleared enough that he could see through the afterglow and focus on the slender young man standing in the center of the circle. He was shorter than Yuuri, with features inhumanly beautiful and golden hair that hid half his face. “The world doesn’t need any more half-assed summoners who can’t even make a circle that can keep me in.” 

Yuuri watched as the fae, with his hard and cold green-blue eyes that cut right through his human weakness and tears, pushed against the edge of the faulty circle. There was a moment, a tiny glimmer of hope, that Yuuri thought perhaps his circle would hold and it would contain the slim, beautiful boy on the other side. It was a short-lived hope that was easily shattered when he stepped through and across the markings Yuuri had spend so much time carefully crafting.

“See? Useless. The world doesn’t need another Yuri. Just go die somewhere so that you can stop annoying me,” the fae said, then stepped back across the script to use the circle to return to wherever he had come from. 

Even after the stranger was gone, Yuuri still had the afterimage of him in his eyes until he blinked it away. He hadn’t meant to call something like that and at the risk someone else would use his circle, Yuuri scrambled over to the edge in order to wipe it out. He hesitated though, hands poised at the edge of the circle. What if- no, there was no way He would just choose to visit Yuuri on a whim. The summoner looked at his carefully constructed circle one last time, trying to determine where the design had gone wrong before simply sweeping his hand through the arcane letters and obliterating them. The fae had been right, he was wasting his time pretending he could actually be a summoner. 

 

****

The new schedule, devoid of summoning, fae lore, daemonic runes and arcane script was so disappointing to Yuuri that he’d actually considered the possibility of just going home instead. But there was so much he would have to explain to his parents; the worst part is they would be proud of the work he’d put in rather than disappointed he’d given up. Somehow that was worse than their actual anger could have been. At least anger would have been in harmony with the knowledge of how much of a waste of space he was. He would miss arcane script the most, the artistic aspect of drawing a circle had always been his favorite. Since he was no longer enrolled in the School of Magic within the college, he wasn’t allowed in the major-only classes. 

He had initially gotten into magic and summoning partly because of the art of it and partly because of the beauty of the fae. There had been a broadcast, during the formalized treaty with the Queen. Yuuri had been entranced by fae, the colors and variety of them and the flawless beauty of them. He’d seen the boy he’d summoned the day of the test back then; Yuri was the son of the Queen and an actual fae prince. Yuri was only his informal name, like a daemon his formal name was a secret and could be used to summon and control him. He hadn’t changed at all since then save that he had been petulant and bored during the broadcast rather than angry as a feral cat. 

Tall fae, squat fae, flowers and wings and antlers and young Yuuri had been awed. One of them had stood out even in that crowd; with the informal name Viktor he had entranced and sparkled, every move that of a dancer. Yuuri was too young to be more than dazzled by the beauty and grace of Viktor. He’d dreamt of him since then, always in the background and always too far to reach in his dreams and barely remembered in the morning. 

Yuuri looked at his mundane schedule one more time and shoved it into his pocket. While he would much rather be going to magical classes than literature, he could at least not embarrass his parents by dropping out entirely. He spent most of the lecture doodling arcane script in a corner of his paper, making a nonsense configuration that appealed to him to pass the time. Now that he was a Mundane student, his chances of ever actually summoning or meeting Viktor were nil. 

His dorm had not moved when he had changed schedules; it was school policy to prevent the segregation of the Magical half of the school by mixing both groups of students in the dormitories. As such, Yuuri had to endure the ill-disguised smugness of his dorm mate now that he was also a mundane student. It’s not that he enjoyed Yuuri’s failure so much as magical students were regarded with an amount of envy and mystique; where John, Yuuri’s roommate, would have helped him succeed in a heartbeat he also enjoyed seeing that magic wasn’t a solution to everything. 

“Yuuri I’m going down to the commons, you want anything?” John, asked. “What’s that? Does it mean anything?” He pointed to the configuration of arcane lettering in the corner of Yuuri’s notes as he went over the notes themselves to see if he had actually written down anything useful. The lecture was sort of a blur.

“Just a doodle,” Yuuri answered, putting his hand over the corner to hide it. “Doesn’t mean anything.”

“Sure. Hey um, look. Don’t worry about it so much. You can still like that crap even if you’re not studying it anymore. You know?” 

Yuuri wanted to tell him it wasn’t crap but didn’t quite have the will to do so. He nodded instead, crinkling the corner of the paper between two fingers. 

“Alright, I’ll be back later,” his roommate said and waved on his way out. 

Once he was left alone, Yuuri carefully flattened the corner of the page in his notebook again. He’d doodled it aimlessly, but it was aesthetically pleasing. It wasn’t much more than an inch across and he had only been able to get the fine detail in because he had a tiny lead on his pencil. What would it look like drawn out at a regular size? If it was part of a bigger circle it would also look nice. Yuuri sounded the letters out, silently of course because that was the first lesson they had learned in summoning. Don’t just start reading arcane alphabet, it was a sure way to accidentally sign over a part of your soul without even realizing it. That or accidentally order fifty seven elephants; there was a school legend about how they had been delivered to the library even.

It didn’t matter anyway. Yuuri closed his hand around the page in his notebook and ripped it out. His eyes felt hot again and with his roommate out for who knew how long, he let the fat tears roll down his cheeks again. It didn’t matter if the script looked perfect, he wasn’t going to draw any more summoning circles. Though strictly forbidden in school dormitories, Yuuri’s roommate kept a lighter and the summoner only had to open two drawers in his desk to find it. 

He closed his eyes, ball of paper in his hand and his hand clenched over it hard enough to shake. As often as his mind kept drifting back to that final attempt at summoning and as much of a blur as his classes had been, Yuuri knew he needed some sort of symbolic gesture of cutting himself off from magic and ever being a summoner. He sat back at his desk and pulled the metal trash bin closer with his feet. 

“Sorry mum,” he said, scrubbing one hand across his face. She’d been so proud when he told her he was going to be summoner. So proud and had put so much time and money into taking him to art classes and buying books so that he would be able to get into the school of magic when he applied. “Sorry dad.” His father knew virtually nothing about magic, but he’d been delighted and told their entire hometown that his son was going to be a summoner. A summoner! It sounded so nice and it was quite prestigious. 

It took a few tries to get the lighter lit, it wasn’t really in Yuuri’s skill set. Just like summoning, he thought. He allowed himself a single, harsh laugh and then scrubbed his hand across his eyes, getting a scattering of his own tears on the paper. Before he could think about it any longer, Yuuri flicked the lighter into life and set the page of notes on fire. 

He did feel better when the paper dropped, flaming, into the garbage can. It was better to know his limits and to move forward, stop treading water in this place between ordinary school and magic. Yuuri watched the paper burn, quite convinced he was giving up his future as a summoner and letting it go. Pointless ambition rising like the bit of smoke coming off the burning paper. 

In order to not set off the sprinklers or fire alarms, Yuuri got up before the paper could finish burning and muscled open the heavy leaded glass window near his desk. He was a bit soft all over but beneath there was a core of muscle that tended to take people who didn’t know him by surprise. Yuuri took a deep breath of the frosty evening air and wiped the last of the tears from his face. Things would turn out, he would just apply himself to his new classes with the same fervor and dedication he had put to his old studies. 

When he turned around, someone was in the room. Not just anyone and certainly not his roommate returned from the commons early. Viktor. Silver hair falling over one eye, flawless fair skin and ice-blue eyes that were looking directly at him; Yuuri stumbled back and away and caught himself against the window frame before he fell out of the dorm. Surely he was dreaming. His clothing was simple; a long vest in a dark blue that shimmered with the slightest movement when he breathed over a simple white long sleeved shirt that did not disguise his perfect muscle tone beneath. Yuuri just drank in the sight, sure that he had fallen asleep until the moment Viktor spoke. 

“Yuuri.” Viktor smiled as he said his name, the tiniest of crinkles at the edge of his eyes and something Yuuri couldn’t quite name in his lips when he smiled. What was it? “Yuuri I’ve come to be your familiar as of today.” 

It was funny because Viktor had never spoken to him in his dreams, let alone known his name. 

“What.” It was a statement more than a question.

Viktor’s smile widened to show a flash of pearly teeth. “Precisely what I said. I’m here to be your familiar, Yuuri.”

That Viktor was actually in his room was starting to slowly sink in; his literal dream boy was in his room. True, he had occasionally woken up from dreams feeling a bit hot under the collar; he’d been a teen-aged boy and that seemed perfectly normal. Even then, he had sort of held the ideal of Viktor as something else, something pure and beautiful and untouchable. Here, in his room, while Yuuri drank in the sight of Viktor, he was having an entirely different and very adult appreciation for the fae’s attractiveness. 

Yuuri swallowed and felt his cheeks and face grow warm, hot even, as he gazed on that smile directed at him. He glanced down at the paper that had finally gone out in the garbage can, little more than a pathetic pile of ash now more than anything else. 

“But I’m not a summoner,” Yuuri said, finally forming more than a single word response.

Viktor tilted his head, pale blue eyes raking across Yuuri’s posture and following his gaze down to look into the trash bin. His eyes returned to Yuuri’s face and that smile the mortal couldn’t name returned, curling the corners of his mouth and making Yuuri’s heart beat faster. “Maybe not a summoner. But my summoner-” Yuuri’s heart skipped a beat as Viktor said that, claiming him as his own- “and I’ll see to it that you’re going to be the best there is.”

 

****

“Yuuri I’m back!” John announced his entry and then stopped in the doorway to their shared dorm room. 

Viktor looked up from where he was lounging on Yuuri’s bed in a soft, jersey robe that slid from one shoulder as he turned. Yuuri was seated at his desk with a look of mingled embarrassment and fascination. 

“Y-yo,” Yuuri managed a self-conscious smile and greeted him.

The roommate was quiet for a long moment. His eyes went from Viktor, clearly out of place and possibly inhuman, to Yuuri, flustered and still blushing. He turned on his heel, letting the door close behind him. 

“Mmm?” Viktor rolled so that he could sit up and look at Yuuri. “Is it a custom for you mortals that a relationship between two men is unusual?”

Yuuri stammered and somehow managed to turn a deeper shade of scarlet. “Nu- no. No. It’s it’s fine. That’s not I mean. Why?”

Viktor leaned forward, mouth forming a vague heart shape when he smiled. Yuuri wasn’t sure he felt comfortable with any of his smiles, but this one he could understand whereas the softer one just left him confused. “Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend?”

“Wha- no,” Yuuri said. They had spent the last hour with Viktor asking him personal questions that Yuuri didn’t know how to answer. He had never been very good at making friendships let alone more intimate relationships. It was mortifying to have to admit it to the man of his dreams but Yuuri thought it was better to be honest. He more or less got along with his roommate but only because they had to in order to cohabitate and not kill one another. His only real friend was Pichit but now that Yuuri was in mundane classes their paths wouldn’t cross much.

“Are dogs allowed in your little domicile unit. What did you call it, dorm? I came when you called of course but I would like to bring a few things.” Viktor seemed to like the sound of his own voice. Yuuri did, too, not that he could say as much. Words seemed difficult under the pressure of Viktor’s presence. 

“Dogs?” Yuuri blinked and had to process Viktor’s words rather than merely listen to the sound of his voice. “Oh. Not really, no. But none of this is really normal.”

“You should move then,” Viktor said. He apparently felt it was that simple. 

“Probably not,” Yuuri answered with a glance down at his hands. 

“But, Yuuri, Makkachin is the best dog and so fluffy and I can’t sleep unless I have him to hold. Are you going to stay up with me at night?” Viktor’s tone went from whining to coy in the space of a few sentences and left Yuuri blushing again. 

Yuuri’s phone buzzed and he pulled his eyes from Viktor to pick it up when he saw it was Pichit messaging him. 

“What’s that?” Viktor got up from the bed and moved around to peer over Yuuri’s shoulder. His proximity made Yuuri feel very aware of what he was doing with his phone and wonder if he had remembered to shower that morning. 

“It’s a phone. Um, we use them to communicate with people who are a long ways away.” Or, in Pichit and Yuuri’s case, opposite ends of the campus. “My friend Pichit is- oh shit.” 

/Yuuri is it true you have a fae for a familiar? Your roommate didn’t know his name but it sounds like Viktor. Don’t leave me in the dark!/

“I know what a phone is, I’ve seen them before. What does it say? Oh see? I’m famous. Your friend must be a fan of mine,” Viktor said, sounding pleased with himself. “Take a picture and send it to him. A picture of us.”

The former summoner once again a summoner lifted his phone and turned the camera around in order to snap a photo of himself and the half-dressed Viktor behind him. Yuuri managed a proper smile, he’d been working on his selfie game to keep in touch with his sister and his parents and let them see his school atmosphere, and then marveled at the way Viktor seemed to glow behind him in the picture. 

“Now send it to him,” Viktor urged, leaning closer than ever so that he was practically leaning against Yuuri’s back. “Ahh I want a phone, since I am to be here with you now. Then you could send me our picture.”

“You’re not worried people know you’re here?” Yuuri ventured to ask.

“Why should I be? You are, after all, my master now,” Viktor said. He sat back on the bed again and Yuuri turned his head just in time to see a flash of pale leg. 

Yuuri looked away and focused on his phone long enough to send the picture to Pichit as Viktor had requested. /Do you think a dog will fit into the dorm room? Do you think John would mind?/ Of course his roommate would mind. 

“Yuuri, come to bed,” Viktor said, patting the bed beside him. “If I can’t have Makkachin you’ll do as an alternative.” 

He nearly dropped his phone and scrambled to collect it while blurting, “Makkachin can come stay with us, Makkachin is fine.” 

Viktor grinned and said something in a language Yuuri didn’t quite understand, but it sounded like he was pleased. “Makkachin! Come on through, here boy.”

There was a moment that Yuuri wondered if the dog would actually appear or not, then he heard the thump of paw pads coming from nowhere but certainly getting louder as though large dog was approaching. Yuuri was unable to see the dog until he was there, a large dog simply coming into being in Yuuri’s dorm room. He looked like an ordinary poodle, one first glance at least, but when the fluffy dog turned his head from being enthusiastically greeted by Viktor, antennae bobbed over his forehead. Makkachin turned from Viktor and sniffed first at Yuuri’s shoes and then followed his leg up until he could sniff the human at the other end of the leg. 

“It is okay if I pet him?” Yuuri said. Nostalgia hit Yuuri in the heart almost as soon as the dog’s face was right there before him. Bittersweet and sad, he remembered his own poodle who had passed just before his test that had gone so wrong. He hadn’t been able to travel home to see his poodle and the guilt had been there since then. The soft, friendly face of Makkachin made him miss his own friend all over again. 

“Of course. He’s quite gentle,” Viktor said, his smile soft and completely different when he looked at the dog than when he looked at Yuuri. 

Yuuri lowered himself from his chair and knelt down in front of Makkachin. The poodle-with-antennae licked his face once and Yuuri was relieved to find he had a properly doggy smell instead of flowers or cinnamon or something sweet and fae and nothing like a dog should smell. “Hello, Makkachin. You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” Yuuri buried his face in the soft fluff of the poodle’s shoulder while delivering scritches to his face and sides. 

When he straightened up again, Viktor was looking around the dorm with an expression Yuuri didn’t really have a name for; he wasn’t smiling but he looked pleased about something and the summoner swore that he’d been looking at Yuuri and Makkachin just before he’d looked up. 

“Yuuri. Tomorrow you will have to tell me about your classes and what you know of summoning,” Viktor said, while Makkachin figured out how to lay on the narrow bed so that he fit against his side. 

“Alright,” Yuuri answered in a low voice, looking at the shelf of books in the dorm room. He still had all his books, as he hadn’t put magic enough behind him to sell them back to the bookstore or give them away just yet. 

“Not what the books tell you,” Viktor shook his head, but his face and voice were already sleepy. “But what you already know you know and the things you don’t know you know.”

They looked at one another, Yuuri slightly puzzled and Viktor with the soft, calm assurance that was probably sleepiness. Yuuri nodded slowly. He was certain that, come morning, he would disappoint Viktor with his actual incompetence. 

“Um, I don’t think-” But Viktor was already asleep before Yuuri could answer him. 

Yuuri heaved a sigh and watched him sleep for a moment before finding a blanket to drape across the handsome fae draped on top of most of his bedding. He had no idea what he was going to do for a place to sleep; between Viktor and Makkachin, even if he had been brave enough to take up Viktor’s presumably joking offer and curled up next to him, there wasn’t any room. 

Finally, he had attention for his phone and felt an increasing sense of dread as he read the lengthy series of texts from Pichit. His friend explained that John had been all too quick to tell anyone who would hold still long enough that Yuuri had summoned something. A fae. A handsome fae. Yuuri who had dropped out of Magic and gone Mundane was now summoning something as powerful as Viktor. It wasn’t that Yuuri was particularly famous on campus but that it was so unusual for someone to transfer from one school to the other. It didn’t help that Viktor was quite well known and his presence on campus was starting to spread. 

With a confused feeling in his chest, unable to tell if it was a good feeling or a bad one, Yuuri turned off the vibration on the phone. When that wasn’t enough to tune out the input from the outside world, Yuuri then turned his phone off completely. It would all still be there in the morning, possibly sooner if his roommate came home that night. But for now, Yuuri glanced at the man sleeping on his bed, the soft pale skin of his shoulder and the line of one collarbone and the dip between it and the next. That little dip was perfect and if he just leaned forward a little bit he would be close enough to touch it. Yuuri caught himself in the act of leaning toward Viktor and jerked upright.

“Oh no.” He spoke very softly so as to not wake either of the sleepers, almost whispering. Yuuri turned away to stare at his desk surface and put his head in his hands. This was not what he had been expecting to have happen in his life when he quit magic.


	2. Lessons in Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor is trying to teach Yuuri how to summon but how can he teach someone to overcome their own nerves and learn something they already know? Lessons take them to Hasetsu where Viktor wants to experience a hot spring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh I sort of loved working on this chapter. I really meant for it to be sooner but I had a Comicon to attend and people from out of town to host. 
> 
> I really felt like the original show had a lot of potential for a bath scene and I originally wanted it to take place on campus so that some of the other skaters could get some naked time too. Ah well, there's always next time. I enjoy slowly working in magical elements and revealing things about Viktor. And Yuuri as an unreliable narrator is sort of my new jam. 
> 
> Still no sexitimes but there is at least one erection and Viktor's ass. We're moving up in the world!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“No no no, you are doing it all wrong,” Viktor said. 

It was particularly unhelpful because he didn’t add any suggestions for how he might go about doing it right. Yuuri pushed his sleeves up roughly, hands already cracked and bleeding from the amount of energy he had poured into the circle. He was frustrated more than he was satisfied with the artistry of the design and it was starting to show in the angles of the script. 

They were in an empty classroom with all the chairs and desks pushed along the walls to clear floor space. Viktor had picked a perch on the teacher’s desk, too heavy and solid to be moved as easily as the student desks and it gave him an excellent view of Yuuri’s work. He was watching Yuuri’s efforts without really adding comments. Other than when he interjected to say that Yuuri wasn’t doing it right. He had one long finger pressed to his lips as he considered the student kneeling on the floor as he altered one of the letters once again. Probably this was not where they were supposed to be but Viktor had assured him that he would warn Yuuri before anyone walked in on them and the lessons Viktor was giving the failed student. 

People on campus had a tendency to show up at the strangest moments, not just students but people working for magazines and newspapers, people with their phone cameras pointed toward Viktor and Yuuri, and people who just wanted to get a little bit closer to the celebrity fae. 

“No no no, stop.” Viktor unfolded from his seat on the oak desk and got to his feet. 

Yuuri sighed, feeling sort of relieved to be able to stop finally. He shifted his weight off his knees and fell onto his butt so he could look up at Viktor. Even standing side by side, Viktor was several inches taller than Yuuri. 

“I’m never going to be good at this,” Yuuri said in a very soft voice. He couldn’t make eye contact with Viktor and found himself looking toward the windows overlooking the faded brown grounds outside. Anything but looking at Viktor, who seemed to have this tendency to look at Yuuri as though he knew something that the student did not. Something calm and almost smug and Yuuri couldn’t help but want to drift towards him when they were in the same space. Viktor had the strongest personality in a room and delicate, weightless personalities such as Yuuri’s own were drawn to the dense gravity of someone like him.

Without saying anything, Viktor was kneeling in front of Yuuri. His delicate, long-fingered hands drew Yuuri’s hands up from where they rested uselessly had his sides. The skin was red, cracked, blistered and bleeding in more than a few places. They had been working on this circle for hours and the more of himself that Yuuri had put into it, the more it has physically taken from him. Although Viktor’s touch was gentle, Yuuri flinched; but he resisted pulling his arm away from him. 

“Viktor,” Yuuri raised his eyes to look at him. He had been about to tell Viktor there was no point in him staying, that he was never going to pass the tests to be admitted back into the magical division of the school, that he just wanted to go home and bury his head into the blankets like an ostrich. But Viktor had such a gentle look in his blue eyes while he inspected Yuuri’s arms and his hands, Yuuri’s words were arrested in his mouth before he could say a thing. The test to be accepted into the school were one thing, Yuuri had passed them before he really knew he was taking the test. But to be re-admitted after dropping out, he had to pass far more stringent tests this time. Several of them. Thinking about it made his stomach twist unpleasantly. 

Viktor looked up from his hands and Yuuri felt his breath catch in his chest. He was still transfixed with the beauty that was the fae, his familiar. Sometimes he was accustomed to it enough he could speak in Viktor’s presence but sometimes he was caught by a second factor; right now it was proximity and the soft expression that left him speechless. 

“I think that’s enough for today,” Viktor said, smiling up into Yuuri’s stunned face. He maintained his hold on the summoner’s arm, folding his long fingers around his hand. There was no reprimand for how badly the circle hadn’t worked, though Yuuri was doing a good enough job railing himself internally that he didn’t need to hear what Viktor was thinking. He could guess. Stupid. Failure. What was the point of being here with this waste of a summoner? 

One of Viktor’s hands moved to Yuuri’s waist and he pulled, helping the summoner to his feet. Yuuri stumbled slightly and his chest was touching Viktor’s and making him highly aware of the extra bit of padding he carried on his frame. 

“Come on,” Viktor said, not letting go of Yuuri’s hand. 

It hurt, just a bit, having the pressure of Viktor’s hand against a deep crack across his palm, embarrassingly it felt good too, the contact and his skin against him and that it was almost like having someone take care of him. Yuuri was all sorts of distracted by the hand holding his he was only mostly aware of where they were going until they were in the baths of his dorm. 

“Uh, Viktor,” Yuuri said, suddenly very aware they had crossed half the campus holding hands. He would have thought they had only gone a building over, hadn’t they? “Viktor we should maybe, um, someone is going to see us.”

The fae raised his eyebrows and looked at Yuuri with that annoyingly knowing expression. Yuuri sort of preferred that look because having Viktor know something he didn’t know and feel superior about it was far better than the raw vulnerability Yuuri felt when his familiar had that soft look in his eyes. 

“Yuuri, are you too shy to bathe in public?”

Yuuri felt his cheeks grow warm but he shook his head. “No, my parents run a hot springs at home in Japan, it’s just-”

As soon as he said it, Yuuri wished he hadn’t mentioned the hot springs. Viktor’s face transformed, lighting up with pure enthusiasm at the mere concept of a hot springs. Yuuri’s hot springs specifically. “Let’s go!”

“What, now?” Yuuri went from blushing to pale in a few seconds time. He wasn’t ready to explain any of his current life to his parents from the moment he had failed his exam to now having a powerful, handsome fae for a familiar. 

“Yes, now,” Viktor didn’t look to see Yuuri’s face until it was too late. The fae put a hand out and drew Yuuri close like a dancer so that his arm was twisted around him and the summoner had his back against his chest. His other hand he flung down at the ground to light up a circle that Yuuri hadn’t seen until now. Had it been there before? Certainly not. For the last several days while Viktor had been flitting around in Yuuri’s small social circle he had wondered if there was any innate power in the fae or he was merely handsome and charming. But there was definitely power there. Yuuri could feel it hammering against his back; he was so aware he was pressed hard against Viktor and so aware of the strength in the arm wrapped around him. They twisted into the beyond black void of traveling between places but, for a mere second, Yuuri felt a hint of thrill that something this powerful was, theoretically, under his control. 

Hasetsu was covered in thick snow. The void of traveling between was so numbing that stumbling out into the sparkling, sun-lit snow felt quite warm. Yuuri soaked in the warmth for a single breath before the actual cold of the air really sank in. He let the breath out in a cloud of steam and leaned back against the warmth that was Viktor still firmly against his back. 

“Still cold?” Viktor asked, voice so soft and so close to Yuuri’s ear he could feel the fae’s breath against his skin.

Yuuri had goosebumps that had nothing to do with the temperature. 

“Guh-buh my folks’ place is this way,” Yuuri managed with only a minor about of fumbling for words. “I really should have called to let them know I was coming home though.” He fumbled for his phone but Viktor plucked it out of his hands and put it into his own pocket. 

“Surprise Yuuri will be a good one,” he beamed at the summoner.

“Can I have my phone back?” Yuuri asked, looking over his shoulder at Viktor. 

The fae smiled, silver and close and making Yuuri’s chest flutter as his heart tried to keep up. “If you would like it you are welcome to retrieve it.” Viktor gave Yuuri the lightest of squeezes and walked off in the direction Yuuri had indicated his parents lived in. The summoner was too busy figuring out how to get his phone back to fully realize that Viktor had just hugged him. 

It was still quite early in Hasetsu. The pace was different here than it was at school in Detroit. The ocean glimmered in the same early sunlight that made the snow sparkle and Yuuri paused to look out at the brilliant blue. They were walking through fresh snow, bright and white and marred by almost no footsteps. It was quite early for most people to be awake but there were also not that many people living in Hasetsu anymore. Viktor got a few more steps before he realized that Yuuri was no longer following him and came back to stand beside him.

“It’s beautiful,” he said, glancing first at Yuuri and then out at the ocean. “Reminds me of the Sapphire Shores in the Wild Realm.” 

Yuuri looked over at Viktor and enjoyed the faint pink on his cheeks. Probably from the cold. For all that fae tended to enjoy their time here on Earth-they were virtually celebrities- humans didn’t know much about the Wild Realm, the mysterious other plane that the fae hailed from. Viktor hadn’t spoken of it in their time together and Yuuri wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask questions. Dealing with a fae of Viktor’s power was far beyond the level of classes he had attended. 

“Do you miss it?” Yuuri asked, finally settling on something close to talking about the Wild Realm but not actually. 

“Oh. Sometimes. It is my home,” Viktor smiled and there was something sad and brittle at the edges of it. “But I enjoy being here as well.” 

They turned together and continued down the sidewalk. Yuuri glanced at Viktor’s hand as they continued but instead of reaching for it he carefully put his cold, burned hands inside the sleeves of his shirt to protect the delicate skin from the hard cold of the morning. 

“What about Makkachin? Will he be able to follow us?” It was a last ditch effort to get out of explaining his current life situation to his folks. 

“He’s able to come to me when I call,” Viktor said. 

He’d tried to explain it once, when he had brought Makkachin to Yuuri’s dorm room weeks back. He and the poodle had a bond that reached between realms; it was similar to the bond Yuuri and Viktor had, as summoner and familiar. It was based on an emotional bond rather than a contractual one, this wasn’t what Viktor had said but it was what Yuuri had extrapolated from it. Viktor could follow Yuuri between worlds because of their contract, Makkachin could follow Viktor because of love. 

“Ah, this is it,” Yuuri pointed.

“Ho?” Viktor turned and considered the hot springs and the traditional building. He put one finger to his mouth while the smallest of smiles curled the corner of his lips. “Yuu-topia?”

Yuuri blushed and waved his hands to try and stop Viktor’s line of thinkings. “No no it’s not what you think, the Yu also is hot water, it’s not my name.” He regretted the fast movement of his hands in the cold air, raw skin once again feeling burnt all over again.

“Yuuri.” Viktor collected the summoner’s hands in his own warm ones, holding them close against his chest. “We should do something about this.” With one hand, he reached toward Yuuri, casually tucking a bit of wild hair into place, Yuuri held perfectly still and watched his hand with a little too much intensity. It was hard to think this close to Viktor and the little thrill of knowing Viktor was his fae was forgotten under the pressure of his personality. 

“Yuuri?!” 

His mother’s voice was so welcome but so distracting at the same time. Had she waited another thirty seconds to notice the two figures outside the gate, Yuuri wasn’t sure what would have happened. He sort of ached to know, had Viktor been leaning closer or had that been a figment of his imagination? She had interrupted the moment and Yuuri was only too glad to turn away from Viktor and the question mark of what could have happened. He tucked his hands behind his back, tugging his sleeves back down over them as he did so. 

“Hi Mom, I’m home,” Yuuri said, smiling as he stepped through the gate. 

“Come on, come on,” she did a little bounce on her feet and gestured her son closer. “Hurry up and let me hold you, this is such a surprise!” 

Yuuri walked to the entryway with Viktor following close behind him. His mother was short and round and was more than happy to wrap her arms around her son hard enough to push both their glasses askew. 

“You should have said you were coming home,” she said, brushing a few tears from behind her glasses as she looked up at him. Only now that she had hugged her son did she have attention to look from him to Viktor and take in the handsome fae. 

“Mom, this is Viktor. Viktor this is my mother, Katsuki Hiroko,” Yuuri introduced them, a strange mixture of anxiety in his belly. He took after his mother, soft and soft-spoken and a bit prone to being plump; everyone said so and all evidence said they were right. 

Viktor bowed, elegant and beautiful and almost alien in the familiar space of the hot springs. He was taller than most of the men in Hasetsu, Yuuri had determined this the first time they had stood side by side. His silver hair gleamed in the electric lights in the hot spring lobby. 

“Madam.” The fae looked up and smiled, making the older woman blush. This was not the sort of person she had expected her son to bring home. “It is a pleasure to meet more of Yuuri’s family.”

“Oh my,” Hiroko giggled and was not fit for words as Viktor took her hand and brushed his lips against the back of her knuckles. 

“What do we owe this surprise to?” she asked, giving Viktor a significant look and then turning her smiling, round face toward Yuuri. She was brimming with the need to ask if there was something he wanted to tell her related to the handsome stranger next to him. 

“Yuuri told me that his family had a hot spring and I wanted to see it, so here we are. I hope it is not too much trouble to have a room ready for us,” Viktor was all charm and stepped close to Yuuri as he released his mother’s hand. His arm then went around Yuuri, warm on his upper arm and then sliding down to protect his hands from the cold behind them. 

“Of course. Yuuri’s room is being used for storage I’m afraid but we can put you in one of the guest rooms,” Hiroko smiled up at him but surely she didn’t miss the arm around her son. “Come say hello to dad, Yuuri. Ah and Vicchan, you shouldn’t forget to say hello to him.” This was accompanied by another significant look at Viktor.

“Mom, what’s taking you so- oh, Yuuri,” Mari appeared, initially poking her head out to talk to their mother and then stepping out when she realized her brother had come home and had brought a familiar looking stranger.

“Hi Mari,” Yuuri said, slightly unbalanced in the act of taking off his shoes in the entryway. 

Mari stared at Viktor rather than at Yuuri, dawning comprehension where she had seen him before coming to her eyes. “Viktor?”

“Yes?” Viktor smiled mildly, following Yuuri’s lead and also taking off his shoes before stepping into the building proper. His brilliant, blue eyes were somehow more blue than the sparkling ocean in the distance and sparkled far more brightly than the fresh snow outside. 

“Yuuri- how?” 

Yuuri felt his cheeks getting warm but didn’t want to pull his hands from the warm, soothing comfort of Viktor’s hands on them in order to cover up his blush. “It’s complicated?”

“I’m Yuuri’s familiar now,” Viktor beamed at Yuuri’s sister and mother.

Maybe it wasn’t that complicated. There was a beat while they took this information in, eyes travelling from short, round Yuuri to taller, slender and beautiful Viktor. 

“May we come in?” Viktor finally broke the silence, putting a little pressure on the small of Yuuri’s back to usher him in out of the cold. 

Hiroko jumped a little bit and smiled at them both. “Of course of course, come in. Mari will just get the room ready for you. You should have called to let us know you were coming.”

“Sorry,” Yuuri spoke before Viktor could take the blame for taking Yuuri’s phone, speaking as he drew breath for it. “I wanted to surprise you, that’s all.”

“It’s the best surprise,” Hiroko beamed and wrapped Yuuri in a hug. “Say hello to your father and Vicchan and then show Viktor to the hot springs.” She was then off in the direction of the kitchen. 

Mari stared at him for what seemed forever before she handed him two pairs of house slippers. “You should call Minako when you decide to stop surprising everyone.” Her emphasis on the word ‘surprising’ indicated she had her suspicions about who wanted to surprise them.

“Ah! Yes. Thank you sis,” Yuuri accepted the slippers and handed the larger pair to Viktor before sliding the others onto his own feet. 

“And take care of your hands before mom sees,” she fished in her pocket for a pack a cigarettes and popped one out with the practiced ease of a habitual smoker. 

“Y-yes,” Yuuri pulled his sleeves back down. 

He had made an art of hiding his hands and arms when he had been learning magic when he was younger. His parents had been supportive of whatever he wanted to do, be it magic or tailoring or accounting or ice skating. When the magic had left marks on him, sometimes deep cracks like those on his hands and arms now and sometimes burns that would later flake off to reveal perfectly healthy skin, he had hid the toll of working with such powers. Mari had dropped out of the Magical School and come back to the hot springs and they had been more than happy to let her work in the family business, but she at least understood what the marks meant. They meant he had been fruitlessly failing at a circle for hours, it was on his face for his sister to read. 

“Who is Vicchan?” Viktor asked as soon as they were alone. 

Yuuri just sighed and walked into the inn where the few straggling people were watching television and drinking. There wasn’t a lot going on these days but it was better than drinking alone. 

“Is that Yuuri?”

“Yuuri have a drink with me!”

“Who is that with him?”

“Yuuri, welcome home!” That was his father, cheerful and wearing glasses of the same thickness as Yuuri’s. 

“Hi dad,” Yuuri smiled sheepishly and made sure his sleeves were pulled low over his hands once more. 

“Your mother told me you were here. Go say hello to Vicchan, go on.”

“Who-” Viktor cut off his question when he got to an angle he could see Yuuri’s face from. 

The fae trailed along in Yuuri’s wake until they found the small shrine set up in Vicchan’s memory. Yuuri knelt in front of it, carefully lighting a single stick of incense. He couldn’t say all the things he wanted to. That he was sorry he hadn’t come back to see Vicchan before he died. That he was grateful to have had Vicchan in his childhood that had otherwise been quite lonely at times. Viktor was surprisingly quiet, standing nearby and just watching with unreadable blue eyes and Yuuri was thankful for this. 

When he was done holding a silent conversation with whatever spirit might still be lingering at the shrine, Yuuri let his shoulders relax. His awareness of Viktor alerted him to the fae settling in front of the shrine before he spoke and they sat close together for several minutes. 

“I can see why you are so fond of Makkachin,” Viktor said, leaning closer to Yuuri and reaching over his shoulder to carefully touch the framed portrait of Yuuri’s dog. “Vicchan, hmm?” 

Yuuri blushed. Viktor had been on television since Yuuri was young and he had been awestruck by his very presence. He’d also seen him in his dreams occasionally; always in the distance and usually too busy for plain Yuuri even in his dreams. 

“Yeah,” Yuuri glanced over at him, fully expecting there to be judgment or scorn in the fae’s eyes. Instead there was something soft there, Viktor’s lips parted just slightly while he looked at him. 

Viktor shifted to slide a hand down along Yuuri’s arm to his hand. The summoner winced as his hand brushed across one of the worst of the cracks in his skin. The soft moment broke and Viktor pulled his hand away at the same time Yuuri withdrew his hand. 

“Will you show me the hot springs?” Viktor asked.

“Sure,” Yuuri was grateful for the change of topic and atmosphere. “I, uh, you sort of swept us away before I could grab any clothes but we can use hotel robes.”

Viktor got to his feet easily and put one arm under Yuuri’s elbow and helped him to his feet without once again hurting his delicate hands. “Lead the way.” 

Yuuri collected some robes from the bath as well as several towels. “Have you been to a Japanese bath before? Or a hot spring?”

Viktor smiled brightly with the glee of foreign tourists Yuuri remembered from his youth when Hasetsu had been more of a destination than it was now. “No this is all new to me.”

“So you should undress over here and rinse off there before we go out into the springs,” Yuuri said with slowly dawning realization that he was about to get naked beside Viktor. 

“Ho?” Viktor was somewhere between amused and intrigued by this turn. 

Yuuri could feel himself turning red gradually but turned his back toward the fae in order to start changing out of his own clothes. He was careful, pulling long sleeves gingerly over sensitive and split skin on his arms and over his hands. Ordinarily he wasn’t bothered by being a bit on the chubby side but being very aware of the slender form of Viktor nearby made him self-conscious of it like he hadn’t been since middle school. 

“Ahh Yuuri, it’s good to see you back in Japan,” a raspy old voice said. 

Yuuri bowed politely while taking his glasses off and setting them with the rest of his clothes. He held the washcloth over himself and smiled at the older gentleman, a local who lived in Hasetsu. “Yes, thank you.” 

“Yuuri, can I get your help?” Viktor asked, strangely meek-voiced. 

He turned to look at the fae who had slipped out of his shirt, realizing he had not actually seen him disrobe yet. Viktor was slightly pink in the face and was folding his shirt neatly while avoiding looking directly at Yuuri. Beneath his shirt, Viktor’s chest and shoulders were carefully wrapped in a stretchy cloth. It was binding down a pair of gossamer wings with bases located between his shoulder blades. 

“Oh, Viktor is that even comfortable?” Yuuri squinted at him without his glasses on and had to walk closer to really get an in-focus look at the situation. 

Up close, each little pane of his wings reflected a brilliant rainbow of light. They reminded Yuuri of dragonfly wings, and he gently helped to unwind the material binding them down to reveal more of them. Instead of iridescent windowpane-like membranes between dark lines, the membranes were made of diaphanous wisps of what looked like cobwebs. When his back was fully exposed, Viktor gave his wings a little flick like he was stretching them. Yuuri reached over, wondering how he’d never seen his wings before, not in photographs or dreams. His hand brushed against the pale, perfect skin of Viktor’s back and he watched the radiation of gooseflesh out from that with a sort of detachment. 

“Yuuri that’s-”

“Viktor, why have I never seen your wings before?” Yuuri asked, interrupting the fae mid-sentence. 

Holding perfectly still, Viktor took a moment to answer. “Our wings are very personal. They are quite delicate and sensitive.” 

Yuuri’s hand remained on Viktor’s back a few seconds longer before their extreme nakedness, Viktor’s words about being sensitive, and the painful comparison between Viktor’s narrow waist, soft skin and his cracked hand sank in and he pulled his hand back to assist his other hand in covering himself with the washcloth. 

“We should rinse off. Are they okay to get wet?” Yuuri glanced at the wings for something, anything to look at but Viktor and the front of Viktor as the fae turned toward him. They did look delicate, that they might melt if they got so much as damp.

“They’re fine wet,” Viktor assured him and lead the way. Wet, the strings collected together and beads of water sparkled in the light like dew. “Sit.”

The word was more of a command than it was a suggestion and Yuuri settled on a wooden bench almost immediately. Viktor walked through the bathhouse without showing any indications of being shy, collecting another washcloth and a bowl of warm water. He seemed to have figured out that Yuuri would not surrender his washcloth without a fight. 

Yuuri was fascinated, watching his wings. There were four in total, top and bottom and mostly sheer other than a dark blue pane toward the end of both of them. Did that mean something? With Viktor’s silver hair and intensely blue eyes, it certainly looked nice. 

“Give me your hand.” The fae was next to him before Yuuri realized it, one foot tucked beneath the knee of the other leg so that he could face Yuuri and collect the limb in question. 

The summoner expected cleaning his hands and arms to hurt. He’d always tended to his summoning marks himself in the past and nothing hurt worse than cleaning the magical detritus and particulates. It was important to get it all out, most summoners who retired early either lost use of their hands from infection, petrification, or a larger wedge of another world reached their fragile hearts and shattered them. Viktor’s touch was gentle though; his long fingers handled Yuuri’s hands like something precious. 

They were quiet, Yuuri watching Viktor’s hands and Viktor’s attention completely on Yuuri’s arms. The world around them turned vague and tuned out, as though the only thing that actually mattered was the beautiful man carefully tending to him. Somewhere the familiar sound of Yuuri’s phone buzzed and Yuuri chose to ignore it. For now. Whatever it was, by the repeated buzzing it was probably good gossip on campus and Pichit was trying to relay it to him, but it would wait, wait until this perfect moment shattered and they both had to go back to reality. Not yet. Please don’t let the dream break yet.

“There,” Viktor leaned in close to turn Yuuri’s arm slightly one way and then the other. He was so close to Yuuri that the summoner could have reached over and touched his incredibly soft-looking hair if he’d wanted. His hand moved a fraction of an inch before Viktor sat up again. “Will you show me to the hot springs now? I think that a good soak will help these.”

Yuuri cleared his throat and concentrated a moment so that he could stand up with some measure of dignity. Viktor got to his feet and took a moment to dispose of the materials for cleaning up Yuuri before returning to him. It was enough time that Yuuri finally indulged in the view that was Viktor walking naked and confident through the bath house. He was lean muscle and long, elegant lines from head to toe. The brief glimpse of ass that Yuuri had was round and perfect and he had to drag his eyes away and concentrate on covering something with what was increasingly an inadequate amount of washcloth. 

“Spring is this way,” Yuuri said, turning to lead the way from showers to the outdoors where the springs gently steamed in the cold air. He closed his eyes and turned his head up to marvel at the difference of the steamy air here by the springs compared to the crisp, clear air out by the ocean. 

Viktor stepped into the spring and settled with a content sigh. The summoner slid in a few seconds behind him, appreciative of the heat on his tired muscles and his sensitive arms as well as the natural murk of the water that meant he didn’t have to hold the washcloth over himself anymore. No one else was out in the cold weather or this early in the day and Yuuri closed his eyes to let himself relax. He’d already forgotten about the buzzing phone.

After a properly long soak, Yuuri offered Viktor one of the hotel robes and slipped into his own, using a towel to dry off in the process. Viktor neatly folded his glittering wings against his back and slid the robe on over it, but Yuuri could see why binding the wings down would make them more comfortable and more secure in human clothing. They drifted through the changing room long enough that Yuuri collected both their sets of clothing. 

“Mom put you in the double suite,” Mari said when they passed her in the hall.

“Wh-why?” Yuuri asked, blushing. The double suite was for fancy guests and honeymooners. 

Mari shrugged but winked at Viktor. “Take good care of my baby brother.”

Viktor smiled, a little mystified but good natured about it. “Of course, I would never do anything less.”

Yuuri padded up the stairs to the room in question. The kotatsu was central in the room with a small tea set already out on it and a few sweets on a tray. The summoner dropped their things in the corner and raked his hair back from his face, finally putting his glasses on. 

“You should call Makkachin,” Yuuri suggested. He was feeling nostalgic for the dog again, along with the benefit of having something else to focus on than just the beautiful fae in the room with him. 

“Ahh, Yuuri your phone,” Viktor offered it to him. 

Yuuri felt the tingle of magic across his skin and the smell of the gap that let the magical dog leap into this room. He was ecstatic to see the both of them, jumping half up into Viktor’s arms and trying to lick Yuuri’s hands at the same time. 

“Thank you,” Yuuri said, already distracted by the blinking light and trying to determine why he had a dozen missed calls and several messages from his roommate, a half dozen texts from Pichit and notifications from some of Pichit’s favorite social media apps. 

Maybe it was the magic that had brought Makkachin through but the smell of an open gap lingered in the room. At least, Yuuri thought it was that until the source of the smell brashly announced itself. 

“You garbage human!” 

Yuuri looked up from his phone and the angry texts from John along with the photographs of their demolished dorm room. Makkachin looked just as surprised as Yuuri, antennae bobbing as his head turned toward the petite, angry fae. Viktor looked mildly amused and smiled at Yuri and his visible anger. 

“Oh Yuri, you came to Japan too,” Viktor chimed. 

“Viktor I came to bring you back, you dumbass,” Yuri seemed capable of puffing to half again his size, fists clenched at his sides. His blonde hair fell over one eye but the visible one was bright green and glaring at the both of them.

“I can’t because I am Yuuri’s familiar now,” Viktor said, smiling still and settling on the bed so that Makkachin could clamber up into his lap. 

“I’m not leaving until you come with me,” Yuri continued to glare but after this statement he turned his baleful eyes to Yuuri. “This is your fault. You and your shitty summoning, you fucked everything up.”

Yuuri didn’t know what to say. He should have been offended but something in his chest felt like the angry fae wasn’t all that wrong. He tugged the sleeves of the robe over his hands a little bit to hide the evidence of his shitty summoning as best he could. Maybe it was true that he was a terrible summoner, but how was he going to get any better without Viktor to help him? He glanced over at Viktor who was mushing his face against Makkachin’s and ignoring them. No, he wasn’t ready to give up on Magic. He never had been.


	3. In Which There is Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri is in Hasetsu and he's angry? Why is he angry? Viktor suggests a challenge to see who is the better magician and the winner will get their wish granted by Viktor. If Yuuri doesn't get his act together, Viktor will go back to the Wild Realm and he wont see him again!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh this took much longer than I thought it would. I have a few original things I've been working on so thank you for your patience. This chapter was a lot of fun to work on and I'm ramping up the tension between Yuuri and Viktor. 
> 
> As a side note, I'm working my friends as betas but they're both busy webcomic folks and have projects of their own that take up a lot of their time so I'm hoping to find some volunteer beta readers? Both for fic and original work. I can be contacted through Ao3 or through the tumblr under the same name I use here. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it~

Once upon a time there was a handsome prince. The prince was lonely so he liked to visit the dreams of his subjects to see the things they could not tell him. In one of these dreams, the most beautiful man in the world swept the prince into dance and confessed his love, earning the name of the handsome prince. And then the stranger disappeared, ceasing to dream so that the prince could no longer find him.

 

\--

“Come on, Makkachin,” Yuri said, a natural air of command in his voice. It was the attitude of someone who was used to being obeyed. He was shorter than Yuuri; given that Yuuri was already quite short this was saying something. His hair was silver-blonde and just about chin-length with a tendency to fall over his bright, green eyes. 

Makkachin wagged his tail at Yuri hopefully, then sat down with one fluffy side pressed against Yuuri’s leg. Yuuri reached down without really thinking about it, rubbing Makkachin’s ears while he worked at coming up with an objection to Yuri’s declaration of his incompetence. 

“Yuri we just got here,” Viktor said, a note of complaint entering his voice for the first time since they’d arrived in Japan. “It would be rude to leave now, the Lady Katsuki is making dinner.” 

“I’m not a terrible summoner,” Yuuri spoke up finally, looking up from contemplating his feet. His voice was soft and barely audible over Yuri arguing about dinner and going and staying. He knew the idea of Viktor leaving now made his chest ache.

“Your garbage human is talking again,” said Yuri, glaring at Yuuri. 

“His name is Yuuri,” Viktor said, stepping a few inches toward his dog and, conveniently, his summoner. He sounded as mild as ever but there was something small and hard in his voice like reprimand. 

Yuri snorted and though he opened his mouth as though he was going to say something, he closed it before any sound escaped his lips. He turned and dropped down to sit beside the kotatsu, giving it a strange look. “Why’s your table have a skirt? And why’s it so short?” 

Viktor and Yuuri looked at one another and then at Yuri.

“It’s a kotatsu, sit with your legs under it,” Yuuri instructed, as though Yuri had not been insulting him a moment ago. 

“What? That’s stupid why- oh,” Yuri shifted positions beside the table and rearranged so that his legs were being properly warmed by the heater. The tiny fae became noticeably less grumbly and quieter than he’d been before.

The door opened and Mari popped her head into the room. “Mom wants to know if- ah! He looks just like-”

“What?” Yuri glared at Mari from his position on the ground.

“Just like Takao,” Mari said, apparently lost in a daydream. “From my favorite band.” 

Yuuri tilted his head to one side, trying to see the similarity. “His name is also Yuri.”

“What.” Mari’s daydream ended quickly. “That’s confusing. Is he staying too? I’m asking because I have to set up another room if he is and mom’s making katsudon. Not- not for any other reason.”

“Oh, ah. Yuri are you staying?” Yuuri asked. 

“I’m not leaving without stupid Viktor,” Yuri snarled, but some of the venom in his words was lost in his soft content being under the heat of the kotatsu. 

“I think that means yes.”

“Fine. You’re going to be Yurio if you’re staying, that’s less confusing. We don’t need two Yuris,” Mari said. 

“Ahh Yurio, so cute,” Viktor chimed in, smiling over Yuuri’s shoulder. 

“Shut up,” Yurio said with all the anger of a cat slowly melting into a puddle of warm sunlight. 

“Come on, Yuuri. I have to clear out a room for him if Yurio’s staying too. Come help- oh I forgot, your arms,” Mari stopped in the middle of her request. “I’ll go get a room ready for you, Yurio.”

Yurio sat up on one elbow as Mari drew attention to Yuuri’s arms. Yuuri had just pulled his sleeves down and the fae prince seemed to see right through them. Without comment, he lay back down, turning his back to the both of them. 

“Your sister is right, Yuuri,” Viktor said, sitting beside him and starting to pry his hands out of his sleeves. “Where would I find bandages?” 

Yuuri sent him with a few instructions toward the bathroom. He waited, sitting near the kotatsu but not joining Yurio at it. Makkachin padded over and settled with his head on Yuuri’s lap, looking up at him. Yuuri smiled and rubbed the dog’s ears while he gazed out the window. He was confused by the change his life had taken but not upset by it. It wasn’t as though he was an unlikable person, but Yuuri had never been particularly good at making friends. He was isolated and not accustomed to relying on anyone. It was better to shoulder the burden on his own. As abrasive as Yurio came across, Yuuri had the impression that if the fae prince didn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t. He felt complacent with the arrangement and happy to have someone in his house he could consider friends. Makkachin’s slowly trying to get more and more of his dog body onto Yuuri’s lap certainly wasn’t dissuading him from a sense of everything being right.

“Hey.” Yurio spoke up from where he was half-submerged under the kotatsu. He didn’t move otherwise and Yuuri couldn’t even see him. “Garbage human, I won't let you keep Viktor to yourself. I need him to help me.”

“Help you with what?” Yuuri asked, looking up from studying the way Makkachin’s antennae bobbed when he pet him. He looked toward Yurio but there was nothing to see over the top of the table. 

“This should do, right?” Viktor stepped into the room before Yurio ever had a chance to answer, holding a roll of gauze bandage and medical tape. They were a staple around the house since Mari had been trying to work magic in her youth. 

“Oh, yes.” 

Yuuri pushed his glasses up his nose with the back of his hand while Viktor came around to his side of the kotatsu and settled cross-legged in front of him. The fae reached across between them and took Yuuri’s hands, sweater-wrapped as they were. 

“Will you let me take care of you?” Viktor asked, extricating Yuuri’s hands and pushing his sleeves up to his elbows. 

Yuuri looked down at the deep marks in his arms and offered them to Viktor without further question. 

“I like that you use artistry to make magic,” Viktor said in a soft, conversational tone. His hands were careful and wrapped the bandage around each finger individually so he would have use of them, down to his palms, and then his arms from wrist to elbow. 

Yuuri followed Viktor’s hands to his face and smiled up at him. “I forgot how beautiful it could be this morning. I just wanted it to work. I forgot how much better it is to enjoy getting it there.” 

Viktor’s hands lingered on Yuuri’s, the tips of his fingers tracing the spaces between bandages where skin to skin contact was possible. “I’d like to help you remember.”

There was the sound of someone retching and Yurio sat up on the other side of the kotatsu where he had been the whole time. “Gross, get a room you two perverts.”

“This is our room,” Yuuri pointed out.

Yurio rolled his eyes. “Viktor, come home with me. I’m a better magician than your- what was your name?”

Viktor laughed, casually putting an arm around Yuuri’s waist. “It’s Yuuri, it’s nearly the same name you have.”

A little startled, Yuuri glanced over at Viktor but didn’t move away from the warm arm that fit so perfectly at his waist. He returned his gaze to Yurio, 

“I’m a better magician than Yuuri. And you promised you would help me make a spell,” Yurio continued as though Viktor hadn’t spoken. 

“…I did?” Viktor sounded honestly surprised, guileless blue eyes gazing across the kotatsu at him. 

“You- yes!” Yurio was immediately on his feet, bristling and angry at Viktor and somehow Yuuri as well. “You promised! Come back to the Wild Realm with me and make a spell. Something new and something they can’t stop.”

Yuuri felt a rush of dread and cold fear in his stomach. Of course Viktor would want an excuse to go back home. He’d thought Viktor wanted to be here, there were times when he almost felt it coming off his skin. But did the contract they have together overcome an agreement with a faerie prince? 

Viktor tapped his mouth with one finger, looking thoughtful for a moment. “I have it! I will grant one of you a wish.”

“Ha?!” Yurio was still on his feet and looked ready to flip the table. “Fine I wish that you would come back to the Wild Realm with me.”

They both turned toward Yuuri, intensity in their eyes as they simultaneously willed him to say what his wish was. He looked at Yurio first and then looked more closely at Viktor. He knew what he would wish for and the words came to his lips before he could stop them. “I would wish for you to stay here- a-and and to help with my hands.”

Yurio made a face like he might gag again, but Viktor was harder to read. Yuuri was never quite sure what Viktor was thinking; the smoothly amiable veneer was so solidly in place he couldn’t see past it. “All right. I will pick a challenge suitable to both of you and we shall see who can earn their wish in a week’s time.”

“A week?” Yurio was furious. 

“Mari said you had another friend here,” Yuuri’s mother chimed from the door. She slid the door open, holding a tray with three bowls of katsudon, tea and cups to go with it. 

Yurio sniffed the air and settled back at the kotatsu, apparently not angry enough to refuse something that smelled as good as her cooking. Yuuri turned so he was actually seated at the table rather than beside it. Viktor sprawled, long-legged and elegant, beside the table as Hiroko served all three of them. 

“Thank you, ma,” Yuuri smiled up at her, adjusting his glasses with a push of his fingers. 

Hiroko beamed at Yuuri and Viktor beside him and turned to include Yurio in her smile and pleasure. “Eat up. We’re just happy to see you and your friends, darling.” 

She left, sliding the door shut behind her. Yurio leaned in to smell the bowl in front of him again now that he could see the food and try to differentiate the different smells and foods. 

“What is this?” Yurio demanded. 

Yuuri looked up and adjusted his glasses again. “Oh, it’s katsudon. Um, pork cutlet bowl? It’s uh, breaded pork cooked in seasoned egg on top of fresh, steamed rice.” It was making his mouth water just trying to describe it. “It’s my favorite and ma makes it for me when I come home.” 

Viktor watched Yuuri’s hands and the pair of chopsticks he held and emulated what he was doing to take a bite of the pork. His face lit up, surprised and delighted by the taste and richness. On the opposite side of the table, Yurio was having a more difficult time with his chopsticks and had managed to spear a piece of pork with a bit of egg dangling off the end and get it into his mouth. 

“It’s good,” Yurio said, looking a little grudging. “For human food. No wonder you’re so fat if this is your favorite.”

Even though he felt a little color in his face, Yuuri laughed off Yurio’s comment and passed him one of the forks his mother had brought. They had some western utensils for those few times foreign tourists came to their spring. “I guess so, it’s pretty rich.”

“I like it,” Viktor said, looking at Yuuri rather than at the katsudon. 

About to respond when he caught what Viktor’s eyes and realized he was looking at him, Yuuri blushed a darker red, smiled, and forgot what he had been about to say. Whenever he thought he was getting accustomed to Viktor’s presence and the way he looked at him, the fae would surprise him somehow. 

Yurio kicked Yuuri under the table, breaking the silence when Yuuri yelped and rubbed his shin. “So, Katsudon, what kind of magic can you even do? All I’ve seen is shitty circles and crying when things didn’t go like you expected, can’t you do anything else?”

“Oh, well, at the school circles are the most basic form of magic and we have to master that before we can move on to more complicated forms,” Yuuri explained. 

“By we you mean them, don’t you?” Viktor pointed out in a matter of fact tone, reminding Yuuri that he wasn’t really part of the School of Magic anymore. Not officially. 

“That’s stupid,” Yurio said at the same time, not even listening to Viktor. “Half of the humans at that school will never progress beyond circles and you might as well weed the most useless out ahead of time instead of leading them into thinking they might be capable of more. You should already be casting runes and you’re doing baby magic instead.”

Yuuri swallowed the bite of food he had been chewing while Yurio talked, trying to decide if Yurio was accidentally complimenting him or not. He liked when Yurio relaxed enough to do more than just shout and use obscenities, his face was animated and passionate even when it wasn’t angry. He was mostly human in appearance, though with larger than mortal canines giving the impression of a wolf or vampire even though he was fae. 

“I know what the challenge is going to be,” Viktor announced and pushed his already empty bowl into the center of the table. Makkachin had his head on Viktor’s lap with a suspicious grain of rice on the fluff of his face but looking quite satisfied. The atmosphere in the room changed instantly, Yurio growing intense and Yuuri drawing in on himself like he should take up less space in the room. “Yurio, in one week you will make it rain. Or, in one week, Yuuri shall make it snow.”

“It’s already cold, that’s a cheap cheat,” Yurio said in an accusatory tone. 

“Is it?” Viktor asked, leaning on his elbow with his legs behind Yuuri. One quick glance confirmed that his robe had slid slightly up pale legs further than Yuuri could look without blushing more deeply. “The television downstairs said there was a spring wave of heat coming this way.”

Of course. Yuuri stirred the last of his egg into his rice so he wouldn’t have to look at the victorious look on Yurio’s face with anything other than his peripheral vision. 

Someone rapped at the door before sliding it open. Mari held an unlit cigarette in her hand and leaned in the frame. “Yurio, your room is ready upstairs. It’s Yuuri’s old room so you better not poke around too much, you might find some weird things.” She gave Yuuri a pointed look and he squirmed. 

“You’re giving him completely the wrong impression, sis. I- oh. I should um, excuse me,” Yuuri bumped his knee on the top of the kotatsu jumping to his feet. He stepped over Viktor and then went around him to run upstairs and make sure there wasn’t actually anything weird up in his old room. 

It was pretty quick to check his old room, though the clean futon meant he didn’t need to look under the bed. There was one hiding place for his things that perhaps Mari would not have thought to look and Yuuri pulled a stool over to the closet in order to climb up and reach to see if the old box was still up there. He didn’t put it beyond Yurio to go snooping and find exactly this. 

“What is it?” 

Yuuri nearly dropped the box at the sound of Viktor’s voice and clutched it to his chest instead. He stepped off the stood and found that the fae was standing quite close, perhaps ready to catch him had he fallen off the stool. 

“Oh, it’s just some personal things,” Yuuri said, pink in the face and starting to wonder if he would ever stop blushing around Viktor. 

“Yuuri,” Viktor said his name in such a way that it sent a shiver down his back. 

He looked up at him, not sure why he’d followed him up and not sure what Viktor wanted. Did he want to stay here in the mortal realm? In Japan? With… with Yuuri? Or would he rather return with Yurio to the Wild Realm? Yuuri took a breath to answer him, stepping closer involuntarily, just drawn to the magnetism that was Viktor. 

“No. No no no this is my room now, get out before you make those faces at each other,” Yurio slammed the door open and pushed Yuuri out first. 

“Ah yes. Yuuri shall we go to bed?” Viktor said, leaving the room of his own volition and putting a guiding hand on Yuuri’s back. 

“Uh.” There weren’t really any other words than that. The suite of rooms they were in had only the one bed, big as it was. Yuuri had avoided sharing the same bed with Viktor by sleeping odd hours, sleeping at his desk, and drinking a lot of caffeinated beverages to he could read instead. There was an appeal to it of course, but there was also an appeal to just sleeping in a bed properly. 

“Goodnight Yurio,” Viktor chimed. The door slammed behind them. 

“Do you promise not to look in the box?” Yuuri asked, peering up at Viktor over the top of his glasses. They were close enough he could read his expression, as well as he could ever read Viktor. 

For the entire length of the upstairs hallway, Viktor was quiet and Yuuri watched his jaw to see if he was tense. He would have liked to touch him, to be as bold as Viktor was with him, would have liked to trace the line of muscle on his neck and watch how he reacted. 

“Alright.” 

It took Yuuri a moment to remember what Viktor was agreeing to, but he smiled his relief. “Thank you.”

“Will you promise to let me see someday?” Viktor asked, voice slightly off and his blue eyes looking determinedly to the end of the hall as they walked to their room. 

Yuuri’s stomach did a little flip, partially because Viktor wanted to see the inside of the box, but also because Viktor seemed to think there was a someday down the line. He couldn’t help a smile, beaming at the box he clutched in his arms. It was just a shoe box, not large, not heavy. “Alright.”

“Do you think we can go back to my dorm for clothes tomorrow?” Yuuri asked once they were in their room and he had tucked the shoe box into the closet where hopefully it would be out of sight out of mind. 

Viktor stretched his arms out wide and caught Makkachin’s paws as the dog jumped up to put them on his chest. “I can get something. I am your familiar after all. At least for another week. Do you just want clothes or do you want more boxes I am forbidden to look inside of?”

While he answered, Yuuri worked on turning down the thick blankets on the futon. It was good the bed was so wide, there would be space for both of them without being too close that Viktor would find him bothersome. “Oh. Clothes would be good. And I might need some of my books if I’m going to make it snow.”

Yuuri slid into the blankets and lay on his back so that he could stare at the ceiling. Viktor was still moving around the room but turned off the lights before crossing the room to the bed. His heart hammered in his chest the closer Viktor got to the futon and seemed to get stuck in his throat when he paused beside it before getting in on the opposite side. 

“I’m not bringing you anything you don’t need,” Viktor said. 

He was so close. Yuuri turned his head and there he was, silver and seeming to glow faintly in the minimal light of their room. His breath caught and Yuuri found himself once more fascinated by the perfect shape of Viktor’s lips and how blue his eyes were even in the shadows. Viktor was on one elbow and looking down at Yuuri. The moment stretched out and Yuuri couldn’t hear much over the sound of his heart beating. 

“Goodnight, Viktor,” he said finally, pulling his glasses off and turning away to put them on the small table beside the bed. He felt the mat move beside him and he closed his eyes, not sure what to expect but surprised and a little disappointed when nothing happened. Yuuri opened his eyes and squinted in the direction of Viktor. The fae had already turned onto his side so that his back was to Yuuri. Unable to shake the feeling he’d done something, Yuuri opened his mouth to say something but didn’t have any words. Instead he turned on his side, facing the edge of the bed. The blankets shuffled a little bit and Makkachin nosed his way under the blankets to sleep between Yuuri and Viktor. 

Yuuri woke up comfortably warm and with an arm draped over something. For one brief, confusing, and elated moment, Yuuri thought he’d awoken with his arm draped across Viktor. Makkachin licked his chin and broke the illusion, not that waking up beside a snuggly dog was really disappointing. 

“Morning, Makkachin,” Yuuri mumbled and burrowed beneath the blankets again. Travel made him tired and he’d never been a morning person. He could hear the sounds of people moving in the inn but he wasn’t ready to join them yet. Instead he fell back asleep mid-scritch of Makkachin’s ears; he’d missed sharing a bed with his dog and it was pleasant to curl up next to the poodle. 

When he woke up again, Yuuri knew he’d slept too late at that point. He threw the blankets off and exposed himself and Makkachin to the cool air before fumbling for his glasses. It was time to learn to make snow. The room was empty and Yuuri walked over to the window to find that, to his disappointment, it looked like Viktor was right, the snow was already melting. 

A suitcase was already sitting in the room and Yuuri popped it open to find clothing neatly folded inside. It wasn’t what he would have picked for himself, but he smiled to find that Viktor had already brought him something to change into. Anything was better than being stuck in the hotel robes all week or his old clothes from highschool. Yuuri wasn’t even sure how he would have fit into any of those, he’d grown a core of muscle since then without losing any of his soft layer over it. 

Dressed and carrying dry shoes in his hand, Yuuri moved quietly down the stairs to the main floor of the inn. He followed the sound of voices and found Viktor and Yurio talking rapidly to one another, discussing the complications of weather and season on magic affecting either. Viktor laughed easily and Yuuri stopped where he was hidden by the frame to watch his face when he laughed. Viktor was different when he was with Yurio, relaxed and with none of the tightness in his face Yuuri saw when they were together. Yurio was also more engaged when it was just the two of them, speaking earnestly about magic and casually in front his his fellow fae. 

Rather than interrupt and potentially be where he wasn’t really wanted, Yuuri pushed his feet into his shoes and stepped out into the cool, late morning air. Maybe Viktor wanted to go back to the Wild Realm and maybe Yurio was the magician with more promise than Yuuri, but he would be damned if he wasn’t going to try his best to keep Viktor from leaving. He took off in a jog, hands protected by a pair of thin, wind-resistant gloves that kept the air from biting at the healing skin. Viktor hadn’t brought him any books so he would have to seek out his own sources of training. He would make it snow in a week.

He jogged the route he had found his senior year, down a path he had to take slowly to the beach so that he could run up along the sand. He reached one end, doubled and panting but appreciating the clarity that came from a (late) morning run. Once Yuuri had his wind back, he turned around to jog back up the beach. At the top of the path leading up, the slim, silver figure of Viktor was waiting with Makkachin at his side. 

“Yuuri, you should be practicing,” Viktor said, but he didn’t sound like he was reprimanding him. Blue eyes searched over Yuuri’s face and he held out a bottle of water once they were within touching distance of one another. 

“Yeah, I just um, needed to clear by head. I’ll shower and head over to Minako-sensei’s studio to work.” Yuuri took the bottle from Viktor, the tips of their fingers brushing against one another. 

Viktor’s face was still for a moment before he smiled. Yuuri had known him long enough now that he had the unsettling feeling Viktor was mad about something but his smile was perfect. Maybe he was wrong. “Ah yes, well, you need all the help you can so you’d better get going.” He sounded pleasant but there was a sting in his words that hit Yuuri like a slap in the face. 

Yuuri swallowed a mouthful of water and tried to find some hint on Viktor’s blue eyes if he was mad and why. “Yeah. Viktor? I’m not going to give up.”

“Yuuri,” Viktor reached out and touched pale fingers to Yuuri’s cheek. As cool as his fingers were, they burned Yuuri’s skin and he was drawn toward the fae irresistibly. “Why do you think it is you fail when you go to actually perform magic?”

It was hard to find words, let alone words that answered a question in a way that made sense. Mostly Yuuri could think of bees, his skin seeming to vibrate at a frequency that had something in common with them. “I suppose I don’t believe I can actually do it. I know I’ll panic and ruin it and so I do.” 

Viktor traced his thumb across Yuuri’s lower lip and time seemed to stand still for a moment. “Then I shall believe in you strong enough for both of us.” This close, Yuuri could see that his eyelashes were silver like his hair, frosting his blue eyes. There was nothing cool about the look he was giving Yuuri though, a cool palette disguising warm feelings. 

Time returned to it’s normal speed and Viktor took his hand back. “Come alone, Makkachin. Yuuri wants to study with someone else, so we’ll just go see how Yurio is doing.”

He watched Viktor walk away, lips parted slightly and still burning with the memory of his touch. When Viktor turned the corner toward Yuu-topia and away from the beach, Yuuri finally became animated again. He took another swig of water from the bottle and started to walk toward Minako’s studio. 

That was how most of the week before the contest went, Yuuri either working with Minako or, occasionally, with Viktor to work through some of the mechanics of making it snow. Two days before the event was supposed to take place, news reporters started to filter into town and filling up every available hotel and inn in Hasetsu. 

“Yuuri, the trick to all magic is belief,” Yurio said, soft and pliable under the heat of the kotatsu in Yuuri and Viktor’s room. He had a dark hoodie pulled up but the leopard-print lining of the hood was visible around pale, blonde hair. 

Around him, Yuuri had a scattering of chalk, runestones and several books he had borrowed from Minako. “No, because you can’t make something out of nothing, Cialdini clearly states that in his treatise on environmental magic.” 

“Books can’t teach you anything if you don’t get the basics, dumbass.” The warmth of the room and the kotatsu had worked their magic on Yurio and there was a distinct lack of venom in his words. “Listen, Katsudon, you have to weave your own self into anything really powerful. That’s why mortal magicians never live long, you only have so much to give away.”

“That’s because mortal magicians think they have to give parts of themselves instead of something they have an infinite amount to give,” Viktor stepped into the room and the conversation with the same amount of ease. He was carrying a tray of tea in his arms and settled between Yuuri and Yurio with it.

Yurio made a disbelieving sound, clearly unable to think of anything Yuuri might have that much to give to his magic. Yuuri started to scoop up the runestones and chalk but left the book open on the floor near his knee. 

“Emotions, Yurio. They can feel nearly anything and it takes no toll on them,” Viktor said in a tone annoyingly like the one he’d used to tutor Yuuri back when they were still in Detroit. 

“Do they have an effect on you?” Yuuri asked as he looked up form pouring tea. “A-a toll?”

“Not when we are young, as Yurio daily demonstrates,” Viktor said, eliciting a rude gesture over the top of the low table where Yurio still had not sat up. “But as we age, emotions, strong ones especially, can be rather draining.”

Yuuri breathed a sigh and passed a cup of tea to Viktor. “I don’t know how to use that for my magic.”

“Get mad at the sky,” Yurio offered. 

“No, snow is more beautiful than anger, you would be more likely to call a blizzard with that. Yuuri, think about the morning we arrived here in Hasetsu. The feelings you had that day.” Viktor put a hand on the tea to feel its warmth through the delicate ceramic. 

When Yuuri’s mind went to the first day they’d been in Hasetsu, the first that that came to mind was the intimate act of unbinding Viktor’s wings. His cheeks turned warm and he shifted a little uncomfortably. He’d thought about this more than once since then, often at night when he had a little privacy or what he was painfully aware of Viktor’s proximity to him in the futon they shared. 

“There, what sort of emotions does that create for you? Use that to bring that snow back,” Viktor said. 

Yuuri played with his teacup, turning it a quarter-turn at a time while he considered this. His emotions that day had been tumultuous and his face still burned to think about it too closely. Yurio finally sat up on his side of the table and Yuuri watched him drink tea while he still played with his own. 

“Ah! Eating katsudon, that was- that was what we did that day, I can use those feelings for the snow.” 

Yuuri knew his answer was wrong even as it was leaving his mouth. Yurio snorted laughter and then coughed as tea came out through his nose. Viktor’s face wasn’t quite visible beneath the fall of his hair while he pounded Yurio’s back to make sure he didn’t choke on his laughter. When he looked up though, the smile on his face was false even if pleasant. 

“Yes, that is a place to start.” He unfolded himself and stepped to the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go back arrangements for the contest.”

Yuuri buried his face on his arms, face burning while Yurio kept chuckling about katsudon for Katsudon.

Viktor didn’t come back until well after dark and Yuuri had already gone to bed. He was half-asleep when the futon shifted beside him and he turned toward the blurry, glowing shape of Viktor sitting on top of the blankets on his own side of the bed. 

“Viktor?” Yuuri wasn’t very good at a clear train of thought when his sleep was interrupted, but a pool of moonlight through the window made Viktor literally glow rather than figuratively. Or was it just Viktor glowing on his own, without the moonlight? 

“Yuuri,” Viktor said his name in the tone of voice that made him shiver. He heard his name all the time from people in a different context, why would it make him shiver now? In a moment of clarity he couldn’t quite manage completely awake, Yuuri realized it was a minor emphasis on his True Name, calling him at a deeper level than just his given name could do. If he knew Viktor’s Name would he be able to have the same effect on him? Yuuri suddenly wanted nothing more than the ability to make Viktor shiver with nothing more than a word. The fae leaned down and Yuuri found that he smelled powerfully like alcohol.

“You’ve been drinking,” Yuuri pointed out. He was on his back, looking up at Viktor and his hand was comfortably reading on Viktor’s upper arm that supported him. 

“Apparently,” Viktor responded, supporting himself on one elbow. 

Yuuri sighed, happy to lose himself in the depths of Viktor’s eyes. He reached up and brushed Viktor’s hair back from his eyes, fingers tracing the line of his jaw like he’d wanted to for so long. As it turned out, he did have the power to make Viktor shiver with a light touch. “You should get into the blankets before you catch a cold.”

There was a short pause before Viktor shed his clothes. With sleepy, heavy-lidded eyes, Yuuri watched him remove his jacket, followed by a shirt to reveal the wrappings around his chest keeping his wings bound close to his body. It was beautiful to watch the slow unwrapping as more pale, faintly glowing skin was revealed. Viktor flexed his wings once they were free and the gossamer strands in each pane had a rainbow sheen. He relaxed his wings once they were stretched and lay them flat against his back.

Viktor lifted the cover to slide into bed and Yuuri gasped as the cold air danced down his skin with the shift of blankets. He reached for Viktor to pull him under the blankets and capture some of the warmth before it all escaped. Viktor sort of froze and Yuuri reached across him to tuck the blankets in since he seemed too inebriated to manage it himself.

“Goodnight, Viktor,” Yuuri said, brushing his fingers through his hair and kissing the corner of his mouth lightly. He turned onto his side and curled up in the shape of Viktor’s body. 

Morning was golden and warmer than the night had been. Yuuri was sandwiched between the fuzzy shape of Makkachin curled up in front of him and the warmth of Viktor pressed close against his back. He smiled, eyes fluttering briefly open to confirm that it was light out. 

“Yuuri,” Viktor said his name quietly so that his breath tickled his neck, one arm over his waist and pulling him a little bit closer. 

Their cozy position sank in with slow, dawning horror and Yuuri’s eyes opened to stare in the direction of the window. He’d taken advantage of Viktor’s drunk state last night and lured him into this position. It was blurry, Yuuri’s very awake brain trying to piece together things that had seemed perfectly logical to his half-asleep brain the night before. 

“Shh,” Viktor rubbed his fave against the back of Yuuri’s neck, making him stiff for entirely different reasons than dread. “It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Yuuri said, not really sure why he was sorry but feeling the need to apologize. 

Viktor got up on his elbow and turned Yuuri toward him, sighing as he looked down at him. “Why are you always apologizing?” 

His breath caught in his chest and it felt tight and hard to breathe. Yuuri looked up at Viktor and then away and then back to him when he thought he’d found something to say but there was nothing. Finally he took a breath and spoke, watching Viktor’s face to try and see what he was thinking. “Because I’m weak.” His eyes burned and he was mortified to feel tears tracing down his face. 

“Who says you’re weak?”

“I- I know I’m weak. Because I quit and because I can’t- I won't be able to make it snow,” Yuuri said. “And if I can’t you’ll go back to the Wild Realm and I know that you want to go home.” 

Viktor’s expression softened and he used the hand not supporting him to wipe the tears from one side of Yuuri’s face. “Oh. Oh no, shh. Listen, I know you can make it snow. I wouldn’t have given you a task that I didn’t have complete confidence in you completing. I told you before, I’ll believe strong enough for both of us.” 

Yuuri breathed a shuddering breath and wiped at his face with the palms of both hands. “And if I win?”

Viktor leaned closer, no longer smelling like alcohol and warm where his skin touched Yuuri’s arms. “What do you really wish for?” 

“I just want you to stay,” Yuuri said, voice thick molasses with emotions and he wasn’t sure it would actually leave his body without choking him. “Just you.” 

When Viktor smiled it was soft and vulnerable, rendering his fake, angry smile an alien species from the way his face lit up now. His blue eyes were also damp and they were close enough Yuuri could feel the ragged breath in Viktor’s chest. Yuuri pushed himself up with his elbows and kissed him. There wasn’t a lot of distance to cover so he freed one hand and pulled Viktor back toward the bed with him. 

Viktor made a soft, pleased sound when Yuuri pulled him down to him and shifted his free hand to slide it down Yuuri’s waist to his hip. It was right at the edge of where Yuuri’s sleep shirt ended and he could have easily slipped his hand inside had he wanted to. It was Yuuri’s first kiss, the first that really counted anyway, he’d had kisses on the cheeks from girls before but that wasn’t really the sort of kiss that counted as a first kiss. He felt shy at first, closed-mouth and getting used to the taste and feel of someone else against his lips. Viktor was patient and careful, teasing his mouth open with lips and tongue until Yuuri picked up and responded. 

It was several minutes before they came up for air, Viktor pink in the face and giggling. Yuuri watched his face, stroking his arm with one hand and knew he needed to get up. 

“Oh come back,” Viktor said, wiggling into the empty, warm gap left in the blankets by Yuuri’s departure. 

“I have to practice,” Yuuri answered. He tugged his sleep shirt off over his head and kicked his suitcase open to find something clean to change into. He tried to position his body in such a way as to keep his erection hidden by his body but Viktor was watching him with soft, amused eyes that didn’t miss anything. 

“Will you be able to focus?”

Yuuri blushed but he laughed because Viktor’s words weren’t meant to be cruel, just teasing gently. “Just promise you’ll keep believing until tomorrow.”

“Forever.”

Yuuri spent the day at Minako’s, approaching his snow from a completely different angle than he had been. By some unspoken agreement, Yuuri and Viktor slept on their opposite sides of the bed again, Makkachin blissfully stretched out in the space between them. So when the morning of the contest came, Yuuri was barely rested and edgy with nerves. He rose with nothing but a casual hand touching Viktor’s back, unable to stay in bed any longer or bear getting too comfortable with Viktor’s proximity if there was the risk of it being taken away. 

Hasetsu was crawling with reporters and it was difficult to get to the stretch of beachfront that had been set aside for the casting. Mixed in with the ordinary cameras were the varying shapes of fae, as interested in the outcome of Viktor’s foray into being a familiar as anyone else. Yuuri zipped his jacket like armor and waded into the crowd to get to the staging area. 

“Yuuri!” Viktor waved. Yurio was already at his side, looking pale and sullen and maybe somewhere close to as nervous as Yuuri himself felt. 

“Yes,” Yuuri tried to smile but felt like maybe he would throw up instead if he tried. 

“Katsuki Yuuri, what are you planning to do to make it snow?” someone with a microphone waved it in his face and Yuuri just stepped away from it to get to the sheltered inner circle where they would work their magic. 

Viktor cleared his throat. “Are you both ready? I’m excited to see what you’ll do. Yurio will go first. Are you ready?” 

Yurio nodded and pulled his jacket from his shoulders. Beneath he was dressed in a pale white and blue clothing that befit a fae prince. He took a deep breath to steady himself and squared up his shoulders before stepping out from the trio to become a separate person. The sky was clear when Yurio stepped out into the open space, drawing every eye with the natural charisma of a born performer, powerful magician and beautiful fae. 

With a flick of the wrist Yurio drew a handful of runestones from his costume and threw a contemptuous look in Yuuri’s direction. Quite plainly it said he would leave the baby magic to Yuuri, pathetic mortal who still used circles to cast his magic. He didn’t even look to see what stone he chose, relying on talent and intuition. With a whispered word that carried easily to the crowd waiting on tenterhooks, Yurio broke the rune in half and summoned a wind. 

“Ahh, here he goes,” Viktor said, touching his lips with one hand. He’d brought an umbrella and opened it up over his head despite the still-clear skies. 

Yurio shouted into the wind, words that twisted into something quickly forgotten but so powerful they pulled at Yuuri’s chest. He sounded angry though, challenging the wind to bring a rain, commanding and imperious. The rain would come or both it and the wind would regret disobeying the fae prince. 

The sky boiled, clear blue rapidly changing as the clouds formed from almost nothing. The ocean itself shivered and water was drawn to the sky to create dark, stormy clouds, heavy with rain. A crash of thunder and a crashing wave and the sky opened up, showering onlookers, reporters and fae alike with water too cold for the warm spring shower they had been expecting. Cheers broke out and Yurio grinned into them. 

No. Oh no. Yuuri felt his head swim and his chest ache when his heart stuttered. He was going to lose. There was no way he could beat this rain, no way he could make a circle in the sand that would stick around long enough in this rain and wind. The familiar sensation of panic gripped him and Yuuri couldn’t breathe anymore. He didn’t want to lose, he didn’t want Viktor to leave. 

“Yuuri.”

The darkness at the edges of his vision cleared up at the sound of his name, gentle in Viktor’s voice. “It’s your turn.” He was beautiful and had a small quirk of a smile beneath the shelter of his umbrella. 

Yuuri flinched, startled from his increasing spiral of panic. “Viktor.”

Viktor gave him an encouraging smile.

“I’ll make it snow,” Yuuri said, sounding as weak as he felt. His hair was soaked and he pushed it back from his face. “Please. Watch me. Only look at me. Promise you’ll watch me.” He put his arms around Viktor, trembling slightly and trying to find comfort in the warm solidity of him. 

“Of course. I love the snow.” 

He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the scent of Viktor, and passed Yurio who was coming back from the beach. The prince’s face was troubled, despite the impressive performance on the sand and the torrential rain that seemed to have scattered half the audience. Yuuri took off his jacket, letting the rain soak his clothing and his skin. 

Believe. Channel his emotions instead of bit of himself. The rain roared in his ears and he looked toward Viktor who was indeed watching him. None of the rest of them mattered. Yuuri held his gaze for a moment before concentrating. He knew what he’d felt the first night in Hasetsu. He knew what he’d felt when Viktor had shown up in his dorm room. He knew he wasn’t ready to let that feeling go so Yuuri gathered it to himself. 

The moment stretched out and Yuuri knew people thought he’d given up. But Yuuri smiled. He put a finger to his lips, an imitation of a gesture that was very Viktor, and breathed out. A cloud of mist hovered around his mouth, frozen breath as the air around him grow still and cool despite the wind and rain pelting everyone else. The pale mist grew out from him and traveled up toward the ominous, dark clouds. The dark anger faded away from them, becoming silver and pearl and the needle-like rain softened until it was large, fluffy flakes of snow. 

Yuuri waited a few breathes, heart beating fast in his chest while it sank in. He had made it snow. He had made it snow without using a circle. Smiling, he turned to see Viktor was watching him with an intense expression. 

“Congratulations!” Viktor smiled and spread his arms. 

“Fine!” Yurio interrupted the triumph and pushed one of Viktor’s arms down. “I don’t need you anyway. I’ll make my own spell. I’ll save my grandfather without you!”

He twisted on the spot and vanished with a lingering smell of a tear between realms and a tearful, angry glare at both Yuuri and Viktor. 

“What does he mean?” Yuuri asked, looking at Viktor as the only person who might be able to make heads or tails of what Yurio had said. 

“I forgot,” Viktor said, frowning. He snapped his umbrella shut and poked at the sand at his feet. “The queen has his grandfather.” 

Yuuri’s heart sank. 

“Yuuri! Now that you’ve won, what are you going to do?” 

There were reporters now and Yuuri nervously cleared his throat and faced them. “Oh well, um.” An arm went around his shoulders and Yuuri looked up, no longer alone when faced with these questions and supported quietly by the handsome fae. “I’m going to the Wild Realm. I’m going to help Yurio get his grandfather back.”

 

\--

Once upon a time there was a handsome prince. He found the beautiful man he’d loved in a dream only to find his subjects don’t remember dreams in the same way the handsome prince did. So the prince waited, desperately in love with the most beautiful man in the world who didn’t know him and didn’t know his name.


	4. Convalescence and Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri needs a little recovery time after making it snow and Viktor helps him pass the time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much many thanks to Azriona for going over the chapter for me with a red pen. My usual proof readers were both busy prepping for a convention and I'm too impatient to wait a week(+) to post something once it's done. 
> 
> This chapter went a little slow and I hope it doesn't feel that way in reading it. I took a break to move a couple states, get a job and make a demo of a twine game for a game jam so I feel like it was a productive slow between chapters. 
> 
> The boys finally did more than kiss and it turns out writing Phichit is ridiculously fun and that might have been my favorite bit of this chapter. It ended up being a little more angsty than I expected but I'm pleased with the final product. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Returning to Yuu-topia was sort of a blur to Yuuri of snow, fading light, and clothes that were too light for the combination of rain, snow and wind that he and Yurio had magically produced. Yuuri could remember being sodden and wet. Had he been asked hours or years later how he had gotten back to the hot springs, there would be nothing more than a vague sense of time, space, cold, and noise. What he did recall, years later, was the feeling of Viktor’s hand warm in his. How their fingers had locked together when someone had tried to draw one away from the other for questions or to attempt an in-depth interview. 

He had a far clearer memory of waking up in the room he and Viktor had been sharing. His hands were swaddled in a thick layer of fresh bandages and the curtains were drawn to keep as much light out as possible. A thin band of cool winter light spilled over the floor and stopped just short of the bed. Yuuri, never a morning person, made a noise and turned onto his side away from the light. 

What time was it? What day was it? What year was it? 

Yuuri’s eyes were so heavy that it was easier to let the warm blankets and the soft, lingering feeling that someone had been tending to him lure him back to sleep. That feeling was pleasant and sweet, like being loved, and it settled in his chest like a glowing coal. The sounds of people in the building and in the springs were starting to fade when Yuuri’s eyes snapped open and he was very awake. 

Yuri. His grandfather. The events after he’d made it snow broke through the pleasant, sleepy haze of oversleeping and made his heart hammer. The coal of feeling someone had cared for him while he slept burned brighter and he wondered if Yuri felt that same coal for her grandfather. 

He struggled up into a sitting position, not able to really use his thickly bandaged hands to do more than paw the blankets down from his chest. Yuuri was wearing just a inn robe, loosely tied at his waist and falling open over his chest and belly. Yuuri felt his cheeks warm as he tried to figure out that warm coal feeling and who had bandaged his hands and gotten him out of his clothes. His knees wobbled and gave out when he tried to stand and Yuuri toppled over onto the floor. He was immediately grateful for the tatami mats on the floor and the futon being so low to the ground that it was a soft landing. It was also good he’d once learned his lesson about trying to catch himself with his hands while they were still so tender after a major casting.

“Shoot.” Yuuri rolled like a seal basking in the sun and pushed himself up with his elbows in an attempt to actually get onto his feet before someone came to see what the noise was. 

“Yuuri?”

Of course it was Viktor. And of course Yuuri was fat and wobbly and couldn’t get to his feet on his own because his hands were in bandages. 

“Hang on,” Yuuri answered, trying to stall him on the other side of the door. 

As it was their room, not Yuuri’s personal room, Viktor strode in regardless. “Ahh you are doing… what is the word? With the downward dogs and sun salutes. Yoga! Let me help you up.” 

It surprised Yuuri just how shaky he was on his feet when Viktor helped to get him there. It was a more pleasant surprise to find that Viktor was more than strong enough to help him to his feet and help him find his balance. It was nice in Viktor’s arms and Yuuri found himself leaning ever so slightly against his chest once he was upright. He knew he was lying to himself when he decided it was just to make sure he didn’t fall over again. 

“Viktor we have to go,” Yuuri said. He felt stupid because he couldn’t really stand on his own, let alone go on a long journey. 

“Ho?” The fae tilted his head to one side slightly confused by this pronouncement and looking at him quizzically. Silver hair flopped over into Viktor’s face and obscured half of it, making it more difficult to actually see his expression. 

“Yuri’s grandfather. He said the queen has him and we have to go help him because it’s my fault that you’re here,” Yuuri said, surprised that he had to remind Viktor of this. 

Viktor laughed softly and brushed Yuuri’s hair back from his face with his fingers. “If that is your concern, we have more than enough time for you to heal before we attempt any sort of magical rescue.” 

“What?” Yuuri tried not to lean into the touch of Viktor’s hands but they were so warm and gentle it was impossible to resist. 

He was amused about something, smiling benignly down at Yuuri. It was strange, Viktor was so warm toward Yuuri most of the time and yet he was so cool toward Yurio’s plight. He even seemed to find it funny rather than alarming. 

“You’re so sweet,” Viktor said, kissing his forehead. “Wait here and I’ll bring food up and explain.” He helped Yuuri to the kotatsu and made sure he was going to stay upright before disappearing again. 

With the door open, and Yuuri awake, he could hear voices from downstairs carrying up. His mother exclaiming that Viktor was a guest and shouldn’t be waiting on Yuuri, Viktor saying something he couldn’t hear and making her giggle like a schoolgirl younger than Mari. How did he do that? Just be at ease with people he hardly knew? Yuuri tried to adjust his robe but it was difficult without hands. 

Viktor swept back in bearing a tray of food in both hands, enough for two and a half people. Hiroko was seconds behind him with tea, western biscuits and Japanese sweets. 

“Yuuri, you’ll catch a cold dressed like that,” his mother admonished and got a blanket from the bed to put over his shoulders. 

“Oh.” Yuuri wanted to tell her he’d just gotten up and he hadn’t really picked what he was wearing. He’d just sort of ended up in it and he’d been too busy trying not to expose his ass to his idol that he hadn’t had the time to change. Staying upright had been enough of a challenge. Instead he turned red and pulled the blanket around himself, wishing maybe he could be comfortable in his skin for once. 

“Do not fret, Madam Katsuki, I shall make sure he is properly dressed before we come downstairs,” Viktor assured her. 

Hiroko seemed soothed by Viktor’s assurance and smiled at him before leaning over and hugging her blanket-covered son. “I’m glad to see you’re up and feeling better, sweetheart. Don’t make your companion worry about you so.”

“Oh, mom, Viktor probably wasn’t worried, he’s used to summoners being tired after something like that,” Yuuri assured her. He leaned into the hug because he hadn’t been home in years, it was good to see his family and to be able to be hugged like this. 

She smiled, like she knew something he didn’t know. “Of course, dear.”

Yuuri looked at Viktor to ask him to corroborate his story but Viktor was very busy straightening out the blankets on the bed and he couldn’t quite catch his eye. 

“Now eat,” Hiroko insisted before leaving them alone together. 

The first thing that happened was Yuuri flung rice onto the tabletop by hitting the end of the chopsticks with his bandaged hand. Viktor was still by the bed so Yuuri just sat, feeling slightly useless and not sure how he could ask this beautiful, perfect being to help him with something as simple as eating. It seemed absurd enough he was his familiar. 

“Ah, Viktor?” Yuuri finally spoke in a low, quiet voice when it was clear he was delaying beside the bed. “Are you mad?”

Hair fallen over his face, Viktor turned to look toward Yuuri, one blue eye blinking at him. “What?”

Yuuri took in a quick breath and then shook his head. “Never mind.”

“You’re not eating,” Viktor said with crease between his brows. “Are you sick? Should I get a doctor?” 

“What? No, it’s just that I can’t use the chopsticks with my hands like- oh.” Yuri stopped mid-sentence, suddenly understanding the crease between Viktor’s brows and the way he was avoiding him. He was mad that he hadn’t been able to go home. “Um. Never mind, I think I can manage.” 

Viktor finished plumping the pillow he was holding and set it gently back were Yuuri had been sleeping. It was strange to Yuuri that he was doing all these things by hand when he could easily perform such simple tasks with magic. The fae crossed the room and threw open the curtains to let the weak, winter light into the room. Unlike Yuuri, Viktor was fully dressed, wearing a crisp pair of slacks and an intricately made vest over a button-up shirt rolled to his elbows. He was beautiful, and the wan light shining on silver hair and fair skin only made it more clear to him just how out of his league the man was. 

“You’re not ready for the bandages to come off,” Viktor said as he sat at Yuuri’s side, picking up chopsticks like he’d been eating with them for years rather than days. 

“Where’s Makkachin?” Yuuri asked, mortified that Viktor Nikiforov was about to hand feed him dinner. Something, anything to talk about that would take his mind of their closeness, the unfit match and the nagging fear that Viktor was disappointed he hadn’t gotten the chance to go home. “And what were you going to say about Yurio’s grandfather?”

“Eat first,” Viktor said, neatly getting one of the spicy green beans on the top of the rice and holding it out for Yuuri. 

He couldn’t say no, Yuuri leaned forward and took the bean from the chopsticks, but chewed quickly so that he could try to continue the conversation.

“Makkachin is out for a walk with Mari. She says he reminds her of your dog, just jumbo,” Viktor answered one of the questions Yuuri had asked, even though Yuuri felt it was the less pressing of the two. “I didn’t know you had a dog.” 

Yuuri looked away, over and down in the direction he knew the small shrine was still set up. “I did. V- uh. Vicchan died while I was overseas, failing my tests.” He hesitated at the dog’s name, hoping Viktor wouldn’t identify by the nickname that the dog had been named after a certain renowned fae. 

Viktor offered more food and Yuuri found he was much hungrier than he’d expected to be. For a time he ate quietly, occasionally meeting Viktor’s eyes and trying to judge what he was thinking behind those beautiful, blue eyes. Mostly it was impossible. As much as he wanted to make Viktor tell him about Yurio and the queen of the faeries, he also wanted to ask him about their shared kiss. At the time, Yuuri thought it was because Viktor was happy he wanted him to stay but if he was mad now, had Yuuri been wrong then? 

“Yuuri, who is Yurio?” Viktor seemed to pick up that he’d run out of time to avoid talking about the subject on Yuuri’s mind. 

“Uh. In general or specifically?” Yuuri asked, confused by the question. 

“In general. I haven’t forgotten him, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Viktor said with a soft, little laugh. 

Yuuri found it strange that once again, Viktor could laugh about Yuri and his situation. “Well, he’s an angry little fae who likes to tell me I’m garbage.”

“But aside from that,” Viktor waved his hand as though Yuuri had just told him the sky was blue when asked what made the ocean blue. 

“He’s a prince, I think.” Yuuri shrugged. 

“And you’re worried about the queen having his grandfather held captive,” Viktor said, leaning one arm on the table and looking at Yuuri. 

“Who wouldn’t be? I mean, I’d worry if any of my family was being held captive,” he said, sort of wishing he had his glasses. 

“But if Yurio is the prince, that makes his mother…” Viktor trailed off so that Yuuri could finish the sentence. 

“Well, that makes his mother- oh. That makes his mother the queen,” Yuuri said. 

Viktor reached over and touched Yuuri’s hair where it had fallen over his forehead and Yuuri froze in place. His expression wavered, almost something other than the soft, confident smile that seemed so normal for a second, then Viktor withdrew his hand and spoke again. “So you can see why I’m not as concerned as you are. She’s his grandmother, the queen that is, and the grandfather she has is usually involved in some sort of family drama with her.”

“I’m an idiot,” Yuuri said, looking down at his hands.

There was a pause before Viktor spoke again, closing space between them and putting his hand lightly on Yuuri’s side atop the blanket. “No, Yurio’s actually upset, I think. I’d forgotten he wanted my help. You’re more perceptive than I am, Yuuri.” 

“You’re pretty perceptive,” Yuuri responded, turning to look at Viktor and finding him right there and so close. 

“I thought so,” Viktor said with an unreadable smile. “Until quite recently that is.”

Yuuri had been watching his lips, so close and perfect and had been slowly drawing closer until Viktor’s words sunk in and penetrated the haze of proximity. He swallowed and tried to stop the inevitable pull of gravity toward Viktor, just in time before he’d reached terminal velocity toward kissing him. “What do you mean?” 

“You are a very difficult man to understand, Yuuri Katsuki,” Viktor murmured. He was so close, eyes darting down to Yuuri’s lips and then back to his face. 

When he opened his mouth to protest, Viktor popped a bite of chicken in to finish off the bowl of food Hiroko had made for him. Yuuri was startled and chewed the mouthful of food while Viktor got to his feet in a single, smooth motion. 

“I’ll be back later, if you need help with the bandages on your hands,” Viktor said, hand caressing Yuuri’s hair before he left. He was gone before Yuuri could ask where he was going. 

He was left staring at the closed door, hands bandaged and pressed together in his lap while he tried to figure out what he’d done wrong. Other than winning the competition with Yurio. But he’d been under the impression Viktor wanted him to win. The warm feeling in his chest burned now, pressing up toward his throat and his eyes until he put one hand to his face to try and stem the flow. What if Viktor came back right now? He didn’t want him to come in and find Yuuri in the middle of crying yet again. Yuuri considered going downstairs, finding some clothes he could manage in his bandaged-hand state but gave up even thinking about it before he got to his feet. 

Using the table for a bit of assistance, Yuuri was able to get to his feet this time. His knees were less wobbly and he was able to walk without assistance back to the bed and to where his phone was plugged in to charge. Why bother walking downstairs and having to explain why his dreamboy had walked out on him rather than choose to spend time with him? 

“Call Phichit,” he told his phone. 

Yuuri was too out of connection with the world outside his current room and outside the circles he’d been working on be able to do the math what time it was in Detroit. Probably something terrible to be calling his best friend at. Predictably, Phichit picked up on the second ring.

“Yuuri!! You sly minx, why are you calling me so late?” 

“I just wanted to say hi,” Yuuri said, feeling suddenly very aware of his tear-hoarse voice and clogged nose.

“Put the camera on Yuuri,” Phichit said, sounding somewhere between amused and resigned. Yuuri could imagine the wry sort of smile on his lips. He used his elbow to switch the phone to camera and found Phichit’s face grinning at him. He was laughing slightly at Yuuri but it wasn’t unkindly meant. 

“I’m just being stupid,” Yuuri said, scrubbing one bandaged hand across his cheek and laughing along with his friend. 

“Have you told Minako that Viktor made you cry?” Phichit asked, looking coy with his cheek on his hand and his head tilted sideways.

Yuuri blushed. “Who said Viktor made me cry?”

“Because you only ever cry over boys and summoning. And last I heard your casting was going very well,” he answered. “Therefore it’s Viktor. Do I need to get plane tickets and punch him for you?”

“No,” he was laughing already, cheered by Phichit’s smiling face and his quick, accurate guesswork why Yuuri was upset and calling him. “No it’s probably- I probably read the situation wrong.”

“Did you think he liked you?” Phichit asked. The world behind him swung and turned sideways and Yuuri found the familiar background of his bedroom comforting as well. 

Yuuri felt himself blushing more red than before. Yes, he had been under the impression Viktor might have liked him. But Viktor was warm toward everyone and Yuuri couldn’t be sure that was just the way he was with humans in general. No, Viktor was just polite to everyone and that kiss had been to encourage Yuuri to do his best. Surely. “No, I think it’s just my own heart being stupid.” 

“You’re an idiot and I love it,” Phichit laughed. 

“What?”

“No, it’s too good. I want to see how it plays out. Are you taking the test to get back in?” The world behind Phichit spun again as he rearranged himself on the bed. 

He wanted to ask more about what Phichit thought was going to play out, but asking about the test to get back into the School of Magic was a distracting enough topic to give him something different to feel anxious over. “Yes. I want to. There’s something I have to do first.”

“Get laid?”

“Phichit!” Yuuri spluttered and dropped his phone, making Phichit laugh on the other end of the call. “That’s not- I didn’t mean-”

“I know. As pretty as you are, you don’t think with your dick enough,” Phichit, with his innocent face, grinned up at Yuuri from where the phone had landed on the floor. 

Yuuri could feel his cheeks were hot and he fumbled to get his phone off the floor with his bandaged hands. He smiled though, certain that some of Phichit’s ribald humor was to cheer him out of his low emotional state. “Thank you.”

“Want to say hi to the boys?”

“Yes, please.” 

The view behind Phichit swung around again and then the whole view changed until he was looking into a large, complex hamster cage with several small, fuzzy bodies napping and playing in what amounted to hamster paradise. “Say hi to Yuuri. Say hi! Say hi to Yuuri who’s being a mopey boy because he misses you and because he wants some of the magical D!”

“Phichit!” Yuuri was giggling now more than blushing. 

“Get back to studying, Yuuri. I miss you and I wish you’d come back to school,” Phichit’s face returned, the hamsters still in the view of phone. “It’s just not as fun without you.”

“I’ll try,” Yuuri promised. His smile faded and for a moment, Yuuri actually thought he might be able to get back into the School of Magic. It was really possible. He needed to talk to Viktor though. “I’ve gotta go, Phichit.”

“Okay.”

“Phichit?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Phichit held a hamster up to the camera and Yuuri got to see the fuzzy little face as the last thing he saw at the end of the phone call. “Byeeee!”

Yuuri sat up on the bed and closed his eyes to collect his thoughts. If he was going to get back into school, he could be making a better use of his time while his hands healed. Even if Viktor didn’t want him in the same way Yuuri wanted Viktor, the fae was bound to him and he could pick his brain. 

“Viktor.” Yuuri put a call into his voice. He needed to put feeling into the call, something that would lend power to actually cause the fae to feel the call. Actually heeding the call would be Viktor’s choice, but Yuuri had to make himself heard first. He dug deep, putting all the yearning he felt for the beautiful fae, the magnetism he felt when they were in the same room, drawing him to the other irresistibly. “Viktor, come home.”

When he opened his eyes, Viktor was in the room with the smell of an open portal and a beer in his hand. 

“I hope you payed for that.”

“I have a phone now, if you want to call for me,” Viktor responded with a raised eyebrow. 

Yuuri blushed. “Oh.”

Viktor took a sip from his beer and walked over to the bed to sit beside him. He was smiling slightly but his hair fell over his eyes and Yuuri thought, not for the first time, that his smile hid what he was thinking. “What is so important you called me?”

“I don’t- um,” Yuuri cleared his throat and looked down at his hands. “I don’t like thinking you’re mad I won.”

“What?”

“Viktor, do you want to go home?” Yuuri looked up and the smile was gone from the fae’s face. 

“Someday,” he said, voice strange and tight. “I like it here.”

He couldn’t have meant the human realm, Viktor was famous and had been there off and on for many years now. Did he mean Hasetsu? 

“I’m not upset that you won,” Viktor said, speaking quickly while Yuuri was over thinking his answers. “I’m really glad.”

“Good.” Yuuri found himself smiling, the tension in his shoulders fractionally relaxing. 

Viktor set his drink aside and took Yuuri’s bandaged hands, turning them just a little bit so they were palm up. “Unless you send me away, I don’t want to go anywhere else.”

Yuuri took a quick breath and it caught in his chest, too caught up in the hammering of his heart to actually make it anywhere. “Oh.” He was caught in watching Viktor’s hands on his, very aware of his touch despite the layers of bandaging between their skin. 

“Wait here a minute, since I’m back we should change these bandages,” Viktor said. He got to his feet and briefly stepped over to where a box of first aid supplies was conveniently placed on a shelf. How long had Yuuri been asleep that the entire kit had been put in their room? 

“Hm, this was easier when you were asleep,” Viktor said, trying to pick the position to best get to Yuuri’s hands without twisting his wrist too much. 

“Should I lay down?” Yuuri asked, peering up at Viktor and smiling just a little. 

Viktor actually blushed when he turned and caught Yuuri’s gaze. “No, I think if you turn this way a little. Here, put your legs like this.” They arranged themselves carefully, Yuuri’s legs over Viktor’s lap without quite being on it and Viktor unwrapping the bandages from Yuuri’s hands. 

Yuuri tried to push the spa robe up his legs but there wasn’t much point in fighting with gravity and his hands were occupied with Viktor’s attention on them. Trying to cover himself a bit more was just drawing the fae’s attention to his bare, upper thighs. 

Beneath the bandages, Yuuri’s hands were deeply cracked but starting to show the first signs of healing. He shivered when the skin was exposed to the cool air, gasped when Viktor put a single finger on the whole skin between the cracks. One ran across his palm, so deep that had they been anything but magical, he would have seen the bones of his fingers exposed. Viktor’s touch was soft and gentle and felt like fire racing between Yuuri’s hand and his spine. His second hand wasn’t as bad, the deep cut was on his dominant, right hand. 

“Say, Viktor?”

“Mmm?” Viktor was leaning close to inspect his right hand, one hand gentle on his wrist and the other touching the sensitive skin between thumb and forefinger. 

“I think I’m ready to make my wish.” 

Viktor’s hands grew still but he did not look up, did not turn to meet Yuuri’s eyes. “Oh, you are?” His voice was careful and casual but tight and it didn’t match at all with his perfectly still hands.

Yuuri carefully extricated his hands from Viktor’s hold and twisted to face him properly. He reached out, putting his hands on Viktor’s face, turning it up so he could look into those eyes, blue and beautiful and so fragile they looked ready to break. “I wish the same thing I told you before. That you would stay with me.” He didn’t amend his wish this time with qualifiers and justifications. Yuuri ran his thumbs across Viktor’s cheeks, holding his breath as he watched the fae’s reaction. He marvelled at how perfect and soft the skin was, his own skin highly sensitive after being wrapped in bandages until now. 

Viktor blinked once, then several times and his eyes seemed far brighter than their usual blue. Yuuri ignored the stray tear in the corner of his eyes and swiped the one that escaped with his thumb as though it didn’t exist. The salt stung when it trailed down his thumb and landed in one of the tracks of his summoning marks.

Instead of answering with words, which could easily be confused between them, Viktor took a breath and leaned in to kiss Yuuri. His arms wrapped around him, hands on the small of his back and trying to pull him so close they were a single person. Yuuri luxuriated in the feeling of kissing Viktor again, he’d been so focused on not doing it wrong last time, he hadn’t gotten as far as enjoying it as much as he should have. Now he felt, at least for the time being, safe in the knowledge Viktor wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon that he could enjoy the taste of his lips against Yuuri’s, the feeling of his hands on his back and the way his long fingers all put pressure on him individually. 

In a single, quick motion, Yuuri changed his position on Viktor. He shifted his weight and the fae loosened his grip when it seemed like he was about to rise from the position almost on his lap. Yuuri redeposited himself properly on Viktor’s lap, his weight somewhat distributed on his own knees on either side of him. 

“Am I too heavy?” Yuuri asked, pink in the face that he even had to ask. 

“You’re perfect,” Viktor answered. 

There was no hesitation in his response and the pure honesty of it made Yuuri lean in and kiss him this time. He tangled his hands in Viktor’s hair, and pulled his head back to kiss his neck. He liked the slightly salty taste of his skin there, the tension in the muscles and the soft little mewling noise Viktor made deep in his throat. Yuuri’s robe slipped off one shoulder and he didn’t bother to pull it back up. 

“You didn’t have to wait until I was staying to do that,” Viktor said, blue eyes bright but merry now. 

“Yes, I did,” Yuuri answered, stroking his face with sensitive fingertips. 

Viktor raised his eyebrows and waited for him to elaborate.

Yuuri let out his breath an exasperated sigh and then watched as goosebumps races across Viktor’s skin where it had gusted over his skin. “I can’t kiss you like this and then just let you go. I would break my heart. I can kiss you like this because you’re mine.”

They were both quiet for a moment, Yuuri worried the enormity of his words was enough to send Viktor running. The color of Viktor’s face changed slightly, pinker and a tiny smile played at the edges of his lips, and as the quiet continued, Yuuri became rather suddenly aware of something poking him from beneath. He was going to move to let Viktor move it when it dawned on him what was poking him. Viktor wasn’t the only one blushing now.

“So that’s okay?” Yuuri asked. He was smiling though, speaking in a low voice and his lips only a hair’s breadth from Viktor’s. 

“Oh yes.” 

One of Viktor’s hands moved from where it was on the small of Yuuri’s back and traced his shoulder and arm along the edge of the robe where it had slid off. Yuuri shivered, watching the movement of his hand and how it followed the natural curve of the robe across Yuuri’s torso to where it came to a point just below his navel. He paused there, looking up at Yuuri before bringing his other hand around to help until the belt on the robe. 

There was a moment where Yuuri felt gravity pulling at him, when he tried to hold onto Viktor with his legs rather than fall backwards. And then gravity won and Yuuri thought he was going to hit the ground and ruin the moment. That was followed by swift, sure hands catching Yuuri and pulling him up onto the bed so that they were side-by side. Yuuri was wide-eyed and his heart beating so fast he could hear it in his ears, Viktor looked just about as shocked, one arm pinned beneath Yuuri and the other on his waist. Then they were laughing, leaning into one another and suddenly insecurities were forgotten. Later, neither would remember what was actually so funny but there would be a lingering feeling of bubbling happiness that would remain. 

When the laughter faded, Yuuri and Viktor were on their sides and gazing at one another with relative comfort and gentle smiles. Viktor crossed the distance first, reaching out with one hand to stroke Yuuri’s cheek with the backs of his fingers and then down along his neck with the pads of two fingertips. 

“I’m going to kiss you again,” Viktor said, blinking slowly like a cat in love.

“Where?” Yuuri asked, taken suddenly impish and smiling at Viktor through his dark lashes.

After a heartbeat, Viktor blushed down to the collar of his shirt and his hand faltered where he’d been touching Yuuri’s face. He sputtered, apparently unable to find words to articulate where he was going to kiss Yuuri. It was, perhaps, the most adorable thing Yuuri had ever seen. He reached forward and popped the top button of Viktor’s shirt. 

“W- Yuuri are you-”

Yuuri shut him up with a finger on top of Viktor’s lips. The truth was, if Viktor made one logical argument why this was a bad idea, probably it wouldn’t happen. He wanted it to happen so badly, had wanted it since he was a teen even if it had only been a vaguely formed thought at that point. And if Viktor didn’t stop talking for five minutes, Yuuri would lose his nerve. 

He pushed Viktor onto his back and straddled his waist. He didn’t even bother asking if he was too heavy, if he waited or let too much time pass the moment might escape him. Viktor met him partway to leaning down to kiss him. His long, slender fingers were pushing Yuuri’s spa robe up his legs while Yuuri was trying to unbutton his shirt at a speed to keep pace. His hands were too clumsy though, thick with healing skin and too sensitive to work the tiny buttons. Viktor leant him some assistance, simply reaching for each side of the shirt and pulling. They both laughed as buttons flew in either direction. 

Viktor’s hands settled back on the bare skin of Yuuri’s hips, partly under the fabric of the robe and partly with the fabric pushed out of the way. The robe hung on valiantly, on one shoulder and loosely tied, falling down along Yuuri’s sides. Yuuri pushed Viktor’s shirt off his shoulders, he had enough dexterity for that even if the texture of Viktor’s skin and his shirt combined to make his head spin. Though the movement of his shirt freed Viktor’s wings, Yuuri pushed him back onto the bed before he could detangle his arms. 

“Mn Yuuri I’m stuck,” Viktor said, trying to sit up to get his arms loose. 

“Are you?” Yuuri sounded innocent in tone, watching the delightful play of muscles in his belly. He ran his fingers down along his abs, surprised by the way Viktor’s hips rose off the bed toward him like magic, lifting him a few inches. “That’s unfortunate.” 

“Yuuri.” His name was more like a prayer than an objection. 

Yuuri shifted his weight slightly and kissed along Viktor’s throat until he found the pulse beneath within. He sucked on the skin, flicking his tongue against it while Viktor, helpless beneath him, moaned his name in breathier and breathier tones. Yuuri moved down, kissing Viktor’s collar bone, his chest, hands finding his waist and kissing down the length of his belly. Enough of Yuuri’s body was on the lower half of Viktor’s that he he finally sat up enough to flex his wings and free his arms from the tangle of shirt. 

“Is it okay?” Yuuri finally asked, sitting up from his careful study of Viktor’s abs to meet his eyes. His fingers were on the fae’s lower stomach, tips barely touching his skin and poised to undo the button of his slacks. 

There was a beat where Yuuri’s heart was in his throat, a part of him still certain that this bubble would pop at any moment and he would come back to reality. 

Viktor groaned and pushed his pelvis up toward Yuuri. “Yes, please. Don’t tease me anymore.” He was pushed up on his elbows, wings extended up over his head and framing his handsome face in gossamer and soft light. His wings trembled ever so slightly, either tension or anticipation. 

Yuuri unbuttoned his pants with the utmost care, fingers brushing over the trail of silver hair below his navel. He could feel the muscles tense beneath the skin and Viktor moved his hips so Yuuri could tug the fabric down and out of the way. Suddenly overcome with a bout of shyness, Yuuri kept looking at Viktor’s legs and the muscles there rather than what really interested him at the moment. He’d gotten this far and now he wasn’t really sure what to do next. 

“Yuuri,” Viktor spoke, fingers moving up his bare thighs again and drawing his attention back to his face. Yuuri breathed in a gasp at his touch and met his eyes. “We can do anything you want to do.” 

It occurred to Yuuri that Viktor might be as nervous as he was. He just was quickly dismissed that as a stupid idea and leaned over to one side, grabbed Viktor’s beer, and drank the last bit of it. Viktor was never uncertain, he had the sort of confidence Yuuri only wished he could have. He set the empty beer down on the side table and pretended there had been enough alcohol to make him brave enough to trace a finger from Viktor’s chest, down his stomach, into the silver pubic hair. His eyes made their way down to Viktor’s dick first. It was hard and impressive and no sooner had Yuuri laid eyes on it that he wanted to lay his hands on it. 

Yuuri’s hands parted to run down Viktor’s thighs and when he groaned it equal parts excitement and frustration. 

“I said don’t tease me anymore,” Viktor whined and parted his legs like an invitation. 

A soft, light chuckle escaped Yuuri. Viktor practically begging him was far more intoxicating than the quick swig of beer he’d had. He didn’t have the heart to say no and continue to tease. Yuuri moved up along his torso to kiss Viktor again, finding his mouth hungry and hot and needy. He obliged him, kissing him hard enough to bruise lips while Viktor’s hands relieved him of the last vestiges of wearing the robe. 

“Tilt just this way,” Viktor said, voice husky and sultry. With just a little maneuvering, they were hip to hip and, to Yuuri’s surprised delight cocks touching just at the tips. 

They kissed again, Yuuri tangling his arms up into Viktor’s hair and just letting gravity and movement rub himself against the fae. Viktor reached between them, the cool skin of his hand brushing the skin of Yuuri’s belly as it moved down. The moaned in unison, trailing into light, hysteric laughter without pausing their kisses long enough to release the tension. Viktor found a rhythm, hand stroking along the length of their cocks, fingers long enough to wrap around both at once. 

It wasn’t long before Yuuri’s brain stopped running on one of Phichit’s hamster wheels. At least for a time he lost himself in the sensation of Viktor’s hands and the taste of his mouth and the way his back seemed to have a mind of its own that kept pushing his hips toward his new lover. He heard Viktor moan low in his throat and it was different than what he’d heard previously, sharp like the edge of a knife or a dam about to give way. Yuuri tangled his hand in his hair and kissed the moan hard off his lips like he could steal it away and keep it for himself. 

Yuuri could see as well as feel as Viktor got past the point of no return. He shifted just enough so that his hand could cover Viktor’s, moving for the both of them but the rough, broken skin of his hand not touching their more sensitive parts.. Viktor’s wings shimmered visibly as he buried his face against the soft, warm skin of Yuuri’s shoulder. Viktor came first and hard, something hot and wet spilling across Yuuri’s hand. It didn’t take much more after that for Yuuri to match him. The pressure in his spine released and Yuuri’s hips pushed up against Viktor as he too went over the edge. He followed Viktor’s example, his face pushed against his shoulder as he came rather loudly. 

The hamster wheel didn’t have a chance to engage before Viktor’s fingers were stroking his face and hair. He felt like his spine had been replaced by something liquid and a muzzy satisfaction had settled over his entire brain. 

“Your face is beautiful,” Viktor murmured, fingers tracing his eyebrows and cheeks and the faintest smile playing across his own perfect lips. 

Yuuri kissed Viktor’s perfect lips and slid to lay beside him. Viktor pulled a blanket around Yuuri’s shoulders and settled against the natural curve of his body. Yuuri fell asleep like that, the smell of Viktor thick in his throat and the feel of him warm and close against him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Yuuri gets that feeling he wants sexual healing.


End file.
